ADVOCACY & DIVERSITY

The Corporation of the Town of Ajax October 21, 2024

Motion Requesting the Permanent Removal of Tolls on the Provincially Owned Portion of Highway 407 Moved by:  Councillor Henry

Seconded by:  Regional Councillor Crawford

WHEREAS Highway 407 from Brock Road in Pickering to Highway 35/115 is provincially owned and tolls are set by the province;

AND WHEREAS the province passed legislation, Bill 162, the Get It Done Act, 2024, to ban new tolls from provincially owned highways;

AND WHEREAS Highway 413, a timesaving highway running through York, Peel & Halton Regions, is being built at a projected cost of $10-billion and is included in the legislation to ban new tolls

AND WHEREAS the provincially owned portion of Highway 407, which is almost exclusively in Durham Region, is excluded from this legislation and is the only tolled provincially owned highway in Ontario, resulting in unfair economic impacts to Durham Region residents and businesses;

AND WHEREAS the Province of Ontario has previously removed tolls on Highways 412 and 418 located within Durham, demonstrating the willingness to removing existing unfair tolls on provincially owned highways and should therefore include the provincial 407 as part of the proposed legislation;

AND WHEREAS the removal of tolls on the provincial Highway 407 would reduce the cost of living for Durham Region residents and drive economic growth, while ensuring fair and equitable treatment across all provincial 400-series highways;

AND WHEREAS the Councils of Oshawa, Whitby, Pickering and Durham Region have passed motions requesting that the province remove tolls on the provincially owned portion of Highway 407;

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT: Ajax Council hereby requests that the Province of Ontario remove tolls from the provincially owned portion of Highway 407; and A copy of this resolution be sent to the Honourable Prabmeet Sarkaria, Minister of Transportation, all local Durham MPPs, and all Durham local area municipalities.