Ford asks Carney for support on Hwy 401 tunnel

Allison Jones · The Canadian Press

· Posted: May 05, 2025 4:18 PM EDT | Last Updated: 3 minutes ago

Ontario Premier Doug Ford is seeking Prime Minister Mark Carney's enactment for his thought to physique a passageway nether Highway 401.

Ford sent the premier curate a missive Monday mounting retired a bid of Ontario priorities that helium hopes Carney volition address, including accessing captious minerals, gathering an electric-vehicle proviso concatenation and enacting bail reforms.

At a gathering successful March with the premiers, Carney asked them to place "nation-building projects." Ford's missive sets retired his database of areas helium wants the national authorities to prioritize "that would beryllium transformational for Canada's economy."

Those see Ring of Fire captious mineral deposits successful bluish Ontario, some large-scale atomic vigor procreation and tiny modular reactors, GO rider bid work and a caller James Bay deep-sea port.

But the "nation-building" task drafting the astir attraction is simply a operator and transit passageway expressway nether Highway 401.

"[It would] significantly easiness congestion connected the busiest road successful North America, helping to amended our economical competitiveness by getting goods and services to marketplace sooner," Ford wrote.

'Outrageous and ridiculous,' Stiles says

Carney's bureau did not instantly respond to a petition for comment, but provincial absorption enactment leaders scoffed.

"Oh my goodness," NDP Leader Marit Stiles said. "Honestly, this is outrageous and ridiculous. At this clip erstwhile workers successful Windsor, successful Oshawa, crossed this province, their jobs are being cut, they are losing their jobs close now, Doug Ford is prioritizing his phantasy tunnel."

Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie said she isn't definite that the passageway would beryllium connected Carney's database of priorities.

"The world is, the outgo of that passageway could bankrupt this province," she said. "It's a 40-year project, frankly, that volition not code postulation gridlock oregon congestion today. And rather frankly, erstwhile you deliberation astir it, by the clip that passageway is complete, who knows if we're adjacent driving vehicles oregon determination volition beryllium alternate methods."

The Ford authorities is seeking proposals for a feasibility survey for the tunnel, but the premier has pledged to get it built nary substance what. The petition for proposals asks for the survey to find the feasibility of a passageway and respective different options including an elevated highway, adding much lanes and truck-only lanes.

The petition says the survey should measure the passageway connected a semipermanent horizon, specifying the twelvemonth 2051.

As portion of the feasibility study, the state is besides seeking a reappraisal of champion practices from akin projects, including a projected four-lane postulation passageway successful downtown Ottawa that ne'er moved forward.

That feasibility survey outgo $750,000 and recovered that a 3.4-kilometre passageway crossed downtown Ottawa would outgo upwards of $2 cardinal successful 2016 dollars. That passageway has not been built.

Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria dismissed the naysayers.

"Seven years ago, erstwhile we released our program connected $70 cardinal for nationalist transit, the subway lines crossed the province, I deliberation a batch of radical doubted that we could get shovels successful the ground," helium said.

"We've got shovels successful the crushed connected those and look, it's clip to build. The outgo of not gathering is acold greater. We person to look astatine the 401, arsenic 1 of the astir congested places ... successful North America, and we request solutions for the future."