Monday was an opposition day at Queen's Park, and the NDP tried — and failed — to wedge the Conservatives on one of their hobby horses: highway tolls.
NDP Leader Marit Stiles introduced a motion to call for the removal of tolls for trucks on Highway 407, arguing it would ease congestion on the 401 and save truckers tens of thousands of dollars.
The Tories voted the motion down by a 61 to 29 margin, with Liberal and Green MPPs voting with the New Democrats.
"Not only is the trucking industry so vital to Ontario and Canada's economy, it also keeps the wheels moving — no pun intended — in our province and in our country. From farmer's fields and barns to the grocery store and then to your family table, it's truckers who get it there," Stiles said during a Monday morning news conference.
Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria danced around the motion during the afternoon debate. He said his government is focused on building new roads and transit to keep Ontarians moving.
The 151-kilometre-long 407 is primarily owned and tolled by a private consortium, but the province still owns and operates a portion from Pickering to Clarington, which is also tolled.
The province has no say over tolls on the privately owned part, but the NDP still thinks the province should "exert some leverage" to remove tolls along the entire highway.
"So we really want the government to get in there and talk to the company," Stiles said. That could mean renegotiating the contract, she added.
Diverting some truck traffic to the 407 would save truckers about 80 minutes of commute time, get 12,000 to 21,000 trucks off the 401, and cost $6 billion less than building Highway 413, according to a recent study by Environmental Defence.
Building Highway 413 — which the Tories argue would reduce congestion on the 401 — was a central plank in the PCs' 2022 election platform.
Construction hasn't started on the proposed highway. The province is currently battling with the federal government over the terms of an environmental assessment.
Tolls have been a hot topic at Queen's Park since the Ford government came to power in 2018. Six years later, it's still top of mind for the Tories.
The PCs recently introduced a bill — the Get It Done Act — to ban new tolls on highways though it didn't remove any tolls from existing roads.
Current governments, however, can't tie the hands of future governments. A new regime could simply repeal or amend the law.
Stiles argued that Monday's motion, which would not have been binding, put the Conservatives "in a sticky spot because I think it forces them to address the fact that this legislation that they've introduced doesn't actually accomplish anything for Ontarians."
