THUNDER BAY — Politicians vying for office in this week’s Ontario provincial election have had multiple questions posed to them about highway safety across northern Ontario.
The four major party leaders were asked about their plans to improve conditions on highways during a Feb. 14 debate in North Bay on northern issues. Similarly, local candidates in the two Thunder Bay-area ridings who attended a Feb. 20 pre-election forum in Thunder Bay also faced a question about what they would do to advocate for better highway safety.
Advocates for the trucking industry and for safety in the trucking profession also recently identified their concerns to Newswatch.
Locally, Thunder Bay-Atikokan Liberal hopeful Stephen Margarit said that money earmarked for a proposed tunnel under Highway 401 in the Greater Toronto Area “should be invested in our northern highways because we need more investment.”
“I want to focus on twinning Thunder Bay to Shabaqua, because we need to get those plans in place now, because it takes a little bit of time to get those highways built,” he said, adding that he’d also support further twinning the rest of the stretch of the combined Highway 11-17, and “working on 11 and 17 (where) they're separated as well.”
Margarit said he’d also propose making more highways in the region Class 1 highways (different classifications of highways require different maintenance standards, with Class 1 being the highest) and working with the federal government “to make sure that people on our roads are driving at the safest and highest standards.”
Judith Monteith-Farrell of the NDP, who is also challenging for the Thunder Bay-Atikokan seat, said that while infrastructure improvements are necessary, she’s focusing on commercial driver training — particularly making sure people behind the wheel are prepared for existing conditions on northern highways.
“The same companies that are training people are giving them their licenses and … really, there should be oversight by the MTO (Ministry of Transportation) but there is very little or none,” she said. “We see drivers that are not qualified and not trained for the conditions they face on our highways, and we've all had a close call.”
Monteith-Farrell said that the NDP, particularly Guy Bourgouin, the incumbent for the Mushkegowuk—James Bay riding, has been attempting to push for better highway maintenance standards, but those efforts have been voted down.
Thunder Bay-Atikokan PC incumbent Kevin Holland didn't attend the Feb. 20 candidates forum. He did respond to a Newswatch question on improving highway safety that was posed to Conservative leader Doug Ford at a Ford campaign stop in Thunder Bay on Feb. 22.
“Road safety absolutely is a huge priority,” he said, adding that in speaking with Ontario Provincial Police and the MTO, that passenger vehicles are at fault of “a good portion” of accidents between them and commercial vehicles, and that commercial vehicles licensed outside of Ontario are responsible for a “majority” of issues where the truck is as fault.
“We have a real challenge in how we can ensure that we have a national standard for truck driver training and driver licensing across the country,” he said.
“We're looking at how we can address that and make sure that people that are coming into Ontario licensed in other jurisdictions are aware of the conditions they're going to see here and experience here.”
At that campaign stop, Ford also promoted the work he said his government has done to fund the MTO and their standards for highway snow clearing. During the leaders debate on northern issues earlier in February, he defended the work he said his government has done on upgrading Highways 11 and 17, and the addition of rest stops across the province.
NDP leader Marit Stiles pledged to bring winter highway maintenance back in-house, making it the responsibility of the public sector, not private companies, and committed funding to continue the expansion of Highways 11 and 17, and other regional highway improvements.
Liberal leader Bonnie Crombie said her party would provide sustainable funding to municipalities for things like road construction and snow-clearing, while the Greens’ Mike Schreiner said his party supports divided highways throughout northern Ontario and “innovative” interim solutions that still improve safety while they get built.
