Ontario hopes to start building Highway 413 soon: minister [Video]

The Ontario government hopes to get shovels in the ground on Highway 413 in the next year.

Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria hinted at the timeline while speaking with reporters on Tuesday.

“I’m hoping to get shovels in the ground, within the next year,” he said. “But the market and our teams will dictate that. We’ll continue to provide updates as we move forward on that.”

This is the first time the government has indicated a timeline for the project.

The comments come a day after the provincial and federal governments issued a joint statement agreeing to move forward with Highway 413 while establishing a working group to assess environmental impacts.

The “memorandum of understanding” released Monday comes after years of court battles between the two governments, with the federal government setting aside a designation that would have placed the highway under the Impact Assessment Act for environmental review.

Advocates have long said the six-lane, 52-kilometre highway that connects Halton …