Highway 7 - Kitchener to Guelph

[tomh009]

Here we go again: Highway 7 is back to the back burner once again.
https://www.therecord.com/news-story/904...yed-again/

I guess this is one of those "efficiencies" that will save money?

[Viewfromthe42]

It shouldn't surprise anyone that first we see them can high speed rail studies, which would link non-PC cities, then punt highway 7, which again, links non-PC cities, and twist back to highways, which doesn't solve any of the issues of how long it takes to travel or how many options we have to travel, but does benefit more PC cities and PC non-city areas.

[SammyOES]

If I had to guess, their answer will be to delay everything and move slowly. They can still say they're doing it - but not actually spend much money. Then in 3 years they can announce all new funding and a real timeline - just in time for the election. Although honestly, who knows whats up with this guy.

It's a bit surprising to me because any significant delay/cancellation will cost them at least one riding, and possibly two. But I guess in the grand scheme of things that isn't that important.

[timio]

Mike Harris barely won anyway.

And now that Michael Harris is a regional councillor, spite (the main reason for most of the PC's moves to date) comes back into the picture.

[Watdot]

It shouldn't surprise anyone that first we see them can high speed rail studies, which would link non-PC cities, then punt highway 7, which again, links non-PC cities, and twist back to highways, which doesn't solve any of the issues of how long it takes to travel or how many options we have to travel, but does benefit more PC cities and PC non-city areas.

One way of looking at it but overall, scrapping these projects and/or delaying them will just lead to grid-locking our province's economy. Chamber of Commerce has noted the negative effects of congestion on the Canadian economy for a few years now. I also remember local media pieces specifically discussing KW industry and access to the 401, etc.

I thought Ontario was "open for business"?!

[taylortbb]

It shouldn't surprise anyone that first we see them can high speed rail studies, which would link non-PC cities, then punt highway 7, which again, links non-PC cities, and twist back to highways, which doesn't solve any of the issues of how long it takes to travel or how many options we have to travel, but does benefit more PC cities and PC non-city areas.

One way of looking at it but overall, scrapping these projects and/or delaying them will just lead to grid-locking our province's economy.  Chamber of Commerce has noted the negative effects of congestion on the Canadian economy for a few years now.  I also remember local media pieces specifically discussing KW industry and access to the 401, etc.

I thought Ontario was "open for business"?!  

If you're looking for logical consistency in the Ford administration you'll be waiting a long time. Ford's priorities are pretty clearly personal score-settling, and riling up the base. A new highway 7 does neither.

[jeffster]

Here we go again: Highway 7 is back to the back burner once again.
https://www.therecord.com/news-story/904...yed-again/

I guess this is one of those "efficiencies" that will save money?

I'll say it only once, but it's "The Record". Journalism that is not at its finest. I'd take anything said with a grain of salt, and a grain of salt that's been exaggerated so much that it is the same size as Luna.

I'll take this quote to mean exactly what it means, and not as a cancellation of the Kitchener-Guelph highway. "We are currently reviewing all projects and spending committed to by the last government, and taking the necessary steps to make sure we are best positioned to provide quality, safe and efficient transportation options to all Ontarians."

[ijmorlan]

I'll take this quote to mean exactly what it means, and not as a cancellation of the Kitchener-Guelph highway. "We are currently reviewing all projects and spending committed to by the last government, and taking the necessary steps to make sure we are best positioned to provide quality, safe and efficient transportation options to all Ontarians."

It probably means that all highway projects go ahead, and all transit projects are cancelled. But we’ll see. Maybe the PCs will surprise me.

[tomh009]

I'll say it only once, but it's "The Record". Journalism that is not at its finest. I'd take anything said with a grain of salt, and a grain of salt that's been exaggerated so much that it is the same size as Luna.

I'll take this quote to mean exactly what it means, and not as a cancellation of the Kitchener-Guelph highway. "We are currently reviewing all projects and spending committed to by the last government, and taking the necessary steps to make sure we are best positioned to provide quality, safe and efficient transportation options to all Ontarians."

I'll include the complete quote here:

"One of the projects currently under review is the new Highway 7 from Kitchener to Guelph," Ministry of Transportation spokesperson Kersondra Hickey said in a statement to The Record.

Hickey wrote: "We are currently reviewing all projects and spending committed to by the last government, and taking the necessary steps to make sure we are best positioned to provide quality, safe and efficient transportation options to all Ontarians."

It's not canceled yet. But it clearly has been backed off from "committed" to "under review".

[MidTowner]

I don't think that's an important distinction, especially not when "all projects and spending" are now "under review." Either the money is committed (in a budget) or it has been decommitted. It's still the former, as much as it was prior to the election.

I expect ijmorlan will be proven right: virtually all highway projects will continue as planned, and that won't be the case for transit projects.

[Coke6pk]

I thought Ontario was "open for business"?!  

Let's ask General Motors about that....

Coke

[KevinT]

I thought Ontario was "open for business"?!  

Let's ask General Motors about that....

Yeah, though I'm sure in Doug Ford's mind he's convinced that it would have been preventable if only he had been the premier sooner.

[jamincan]

Who knows? Maybe if he'd put those "Open for business" signs up at the Windsor border a few weeks earlier, those GM executives would have looked out their window and realized Ontario is open for business and they don't have to close the plant after all.

[jeffster]

I thought Ontario was "open for business"?!  

Let's ask General Motors about that....

Coke

Not to get political at all here; but I thought things were going so damned well in the US, according to Trump, that I was surprised that they're closing 4 plants in the USA.

[Momo26]

Also don't mean to go off topic but let's be honest, being a soon-to-be-if-not-already ex-manufacturing city (K-W Cambridge region for that matter), this factory closing goes to show how important it is for us as a region to continue to invest in tomorrow's technologies and jobs: Hi-tech, services, automation and innovation.

There is a force - call it globalization and innovation - that we won't be able to stop...maybe the expanse of this highway will serve KW to that end as well...I don't know anything about Guelph's job market as it pertains to the above but surely, if nothing else, will help move people and goods into the region and bolster our growth.