Federal government advised Ontario to reroute Highway 413: documents [Video]

The federal government advised Ontario’s Progressive Conservatives to reroute their signature Highway 413 project to protect endangered species, internal documents reveal.

The recommendation was made by Environment and Climate Change Canada officials in a June 2024 presentation given to federal and provincial bureaucrats as part of a joint working group for Highway 413. The Narwhal obtained copies from both federal and provincial governments through federal access to information rules and provincial freedom of information legislation.

If built, Highway 413 would connect Toronto’s north and western suburbs, running though Ontario’s protected Greenbelt and swaths of endangered species habitat along the way. It was a major tenet of Premier Doug Ford’s 2022 election campaign, and continues to play a prominent role in his party’s current bid for re-election that will see voters headed to the polls Feb. 27. But the federal government has also had some oversight of the highway since 2021.

That year, the federal government highlighted concerns about how the …