Debate is expected to resume next week at Queen’s Park on a private members bill from the MPP of Mushkegowuk-James Bay. Guy Bourgouin is pushing his bill to reclassify Highways 11 and 17 the same as the south that includes timely snow removal after a storm. He adds that the bill has gotten support from fellow Northern Ontario MPPs, and hopes the Ford Government will take a serious look at it.
“Does it answer all of the problems that we have on our highways? No, but it’s a start,” he said. “It makes the highway clear and we can act on the other problems that we see continuously on highways. But the cleaning of the highway is important and I think it is a key issue to start with.”
The province recently set up a task force to address Northern Ontario highways at the request of Val-Rita Harty Mayor Johanne Barill following an accident near her community. Bourgouin says he’s concerned that time is running out on the task force before the June election is called.
“Will they have time to do all of their reports hopefully they can and bring some closure to the things we are dealing with,” he said. “But they have a lot of work ahead of them, so it will be interesting to see what happens to their report.”