Reply to comment

TORONTO--The McGuinty Government announced on Friday April 9th that “Improving the flow of traffic at the Windsor border is the number one economic infrastructure priority for the Government of Ontario.”

Premier McGuinty made this statement in "Ontario Announces Improvements To Windsor-Essex Gateway," part of the Ontario Government’s $1.6 billion commitment to the controversial Detroit River International Crossing (DRIC) project that seeks to create a new taxpayer supported Windsor-Detroit border crossing. DRIC continues to advance despite the steady and persistent decline in cross-border traffic in the Windsor-Detroit corridor dating back to 1999.
 
Sierra Club opposes the DRIC project because it is unnecessary and environmentally destructive. On the Canadian side, access to the proposed new bridge would damage the environmentally sensitive Ojibway Prairie Complex of parks and preserves, harming at least 10 species at risk. The April 9 announcement also comes in the wake of an Ontario budget that strips $4 billion in funding from Toronto transit projects despite evidence that Toronto traffic congestion ranks among the world’s worst.
 
“The McGuinty Government has taken desperately needed funding away from Toronto transit to support the construction of an unneeded bridge to service declining cross-border traffic," said Dan McDermott, Sierra Club Ontario chapter director. "Toronto residents need new transit options, but these are being sacrificed for a decreasing number of people driving to Detroit.”
 
The environmentally destructive and manifestly unneeded DRIC project should be abandoned for these reasons. McDermott added today “Premier McGuinty’s support of DRIC and failure to support GTA transit sends a message to Torontonians that they are second class citizens of Ontario.”
 
-30-
 
Contact:
Dan McDermott
Sierra Club Ontario chapter director
416-960-6075
416-873-3852 (cell)