TAKE ACTION: Tell the federal government they need to do a proper environmental assessment on the Bradford Bypass. The Province has exempted itself from due process which means the only way this highway will get proper scrutiny and environmental studies is if the federal government steps in.
The Ontario government has recklessly revived a long-dead proposal for a new 400-series highway, the Bradford Bypass, which would carve through the Holland Marsh and slice up sections of farmland and the Greenbelt in order to connect highways 400 and 404.
The new highway would cost billions of dollars, have devastating impacts on the forests, farms, wetlands, rivers and communities that they bulldoze through, threaten endangered species, and the health of residents, not to mention exploiting a section of Federal Crown Land and destroying a significant archaeological site.
Worse, the project is going ahead based on a 24 year old Environmental Assessment, which is drastically, dangerously outdated. The province has passed exemptions to the updates they are required to complete, AND they want to start building "early works" before environmental assessment updates are complete or made public.
Without completing a current Environmental Assessment, we won’t even know the scale of the damage they will cause until it’s too late. We cannot accept the approach of building now and worrying about impacts later, especially when people's water, climate, and health is on the line.
With the Environmental Assessment Act exemption, the province has essentially approved this highway despite the out of date studies and no updated studies completed. More local municipalities are outlining their concern for Lake Simcoe and how this highway will pollute it, but we need public pressure to get the province to do the right thing and ensure all of the EA studies are done and updated.
Let's re-think the Holland Marsh Highway, and at the very least, ensure a complete, transparent, and up-to-date Environmental Assessment and public consultation process take place. We are in the middle of a climate crisis, in a global pandemic. Health > Highways.
Take action now to write to Steven Guilbeault, Federal Minister of Environment and Climate Change Canada, asking him to designate the Bradford Bypass for a federal environmental study.
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