MPP Shaw responds to cancelled Highway 413 environmental assessment: “Completely irresponsible”

QUEEN’S PARK – MPP Sandy Shaw (Hamilton West – Ancaster – Dundas), Official Opposition critic for Environment, Conservation, and Parks released the following statement in response to the rumoured cancellation of Highway 413’s environmental assessment:

“If this is true, it would be completely irresponsible. At a time when Ford has systematically stripped away countless meaningful environmental protections, a federal impact assessment may be the only way to find out the true cost of the Highway 413 proposal – including the impact to farms, floodplains, and vulnerable species. This Federal assessment should have been completed years ago – but Ford has inexplicably been holding up the process. What is he trying to hide?

Let’s be clear - Ford’s proposed Highway 413 is not about the public interest – just as with the Greenbelt scandal, it’s more about boosting the profits of land speculators than connecting people and communities.

It deserves a full environmental review.”