Ontario Construction News staff writer
The federal environment minister says he is designating a controversial highway project in the western Greater Toronto Area for assessment.
Jonathan Wilkinson says in a statement that there are clear areas of federal concern with the project put forward by Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s government.
His decision is based on the findings of several federal departments that the project may cause “adverse direct or incidental effects” on species at risk.
Wilkinson says a federal impact assessment will be grounded in science, evidence and Indigenous knowledge.
Environmentalists and opposition politicians have criticized the Highway 413 project, saying it would pave over environmentally sensitive areas and farmland.
Caroline Mulroney, Ontario’s minister of transportation says the province will work with the federal government to address “their newly found concerns regarding the Highway 413 project.
“At this point, it is unclear what the scope of a federal impact assessment would be or whether a full impact assessment would be warranted, especially given the fact that the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada has concluded that concerns surrounding environmental impacts are expected to be addressed through federal and provincial regulatory processes” Mulroney said Monday in a statement.
“Further, as recently as March 2020, the experts at the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada reviewed the evidence and declined to take further action on the GTA West project.”
The project is already subject to a provincial individual Environmental Assessment, which Mulroney called the most stringent assessment process on record.
“We also believe in the principle of one project-one assessment,” she said. “We will work with the federal government to address their newly-found concerns around the potential adverse effects on the western chorus frog, red-headed woodpecker and rapids clubtail.”