A decision on whether to review a controversial planned highway in the Toronto area would have already been made if the Ford government had submitted a project description back when it was first requested in 2021, says the federal environment minister’s office.
A spokesperson for Minister Stephen Guilbeault said the Impact Assessment Agency — the body responsible for federal environmental reviews — hasn’t received Highway 413’s project description from the Ford government despite it being first designated for review by Ottawa over two years ago.
"So far, the only source of delay has been the Ontario government,” Guilbeault’s office said, adding that it hoped Ontario would reach a collaboration agreement with the feds as B.C. had done to ensure that there would only be one assessment per project.