Trying to put a rapid transit corridor along side a major infrastructure corridor such as the 401 is hardly unique as a cost-saving measure. People generally do not like living directly next to highways, especially when that Highway corridor runs through a whole bunch of floodplain. The maximum speed of our Light Rail trains is 90 km an hour. Unless the route is going to be making frequent stops along the 401 to serve all the new development that's maybe going up directly next to the 401 (which it's not) I don't think using the 401 is a right-of-way is the best idea for LRT.
Great idea for BRT though.
Great idea for BRT though.