Schreiner calls on Ford to protect the Greenbelt and Lake Simcoe by cancelling the Holland Marsh Highway

November 2, 2021

QUEEN’S PARK — Mike Schreiner released the following statement regarding the Holland Marsh Highway:

“Doug Ford needs to cancel the Holland Marsh Highway to protect Lake Simcoe and the Greenbelt.

The 2014 Ministry of Transportation report is clear: there are much less environmentally destructive alternatives that will meet the region’s transportation needs.

But Doug Ford insists on pushing through a highway that will pave over 17 hectares of the Holland Marsh, destroy 39 hectares of wildlife habitat and 10 hectares of designated provincially significant wetlands, and cause significant groundwater contamination.

All for a cost of $1.5 billion.

It doesn’t make any sense.

The Holland Marsh Highway will also supercharge climate pollution. According to Ecojustice, the highway will pump almost 87 million kilograms of GHG emissions into the air each year.

We’re in a climate emergency and need to drastically reduce emissions — not increase them. More highways is not the answer. The answer is investing in transit and protecting nature, as highlighted in our recently launched Roadmap to Net-Zero.

I’m calling on Doug Ford to get his priorities straight and cancel the Holland Marsh Highway to protect Lake Simcoe, the Greenbelt, and the climate.”

You can see Mike Schreiner’s question in the House here: https://twitter.com/MikeSchreiner/status/1455562299427655680

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