Ford says the project will help drivers get out of gridlock and keep workers working. Pictured: Premier Doug Ford. Photo Credit: Doug Ford/X.
At a campaign stop in Niagara Falls at the end of January, Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced that his government will look to widen the Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW) between Burlington and St. Catharines if re-elected.
Ford says that he will invest an additional $22 billion into his nearly $200 billion plan to build infrastructure to make the project happen.
“We’re not only going to invest more, we’re going to invest faster,” said Ford.
“We’ll prioritize shovel-ready projects that can get people to work quickly. That includes widening the QEW between Burlington and St. Catharines.”
Ford added that the project will not only “help drivers get out of gridlock,” but also “keep thousands of construction workers and skilled tradespeople working.”
An Ontario PC press release states that, when implemented, U.S. tariffs on Canada would put 450,000 jobs at risk, including in the manufacturing and construction sectors.
Ford hopes to counter potential job losses by investing more in infrastructure to keep those construction professionals working.
“These are important investments in infrastructure, just as important, they are important investments in jobs, they are paycheques, they are confidence, and they are peace of mind for tens of thousands of families,” he continued.
“At a time when President Trump expects us to back down, we’re going to double down. We’re going to fight back by building back. However long it takes, we’re going to come out of this fight stronger, better, and more united than ever before,” Ford concluded.
Ford called a provincial election in Ontario about 16 months early, dropping the writ on Jan. 28 and setting an election date of Thursday, Feb. 27, 2025.
Ford said at the time that he needs “a strong, four-year mandate that outlives and outlasts the Trump administration” in order to “protect Ontario.”
Of the additional $22 billion in infrastructure projects, the Ontario PC Party outlines that $15 billion would be invested over three years to “speed up key capital projects, including widening the QEW between Burlington and St. Catharines,” another $5 billion would be for the Building Ontario Fund, $2 billion for the Municipal Housing Infrastructure Program and Housing-Enabling Water Systems Fund, and $300 million for the Community Sport and Recreation Fund.
The Building Ontario Fund is used for housing, long-term care, energy, transportation and municipal infrastructure projects, while the Municipal Housing Infrastructure Program and Housing-Enabling Water Systems Fund are used for building the infrastructure that municipalities need to build more homes, and the Community Sport and Recreation Fund is to help build more rinks, arenas, sports centres, and other community infrastructure across the province.
Ford and the Ontario PCs have a number of other highway infrastructure plans in the works if re-elected.
First, Ford has plans to build the Bradford Bypass which will connect Bradford West Gwillimbury to East Gwillimbury from Highway 400 to Highway 404.
Second, Ford is planning to build Highway 413, extending from the 401/407 ETR interchange near Mississauga, Milton, and Halton Hills up to Highway 400 between King Road and Kirby Road in Vaughan. The highway would also connect to the 410 and the 427.
Ford also re-announced plans for a Highway 401 tunnel expressway from “beyond Brampton and Mississauga in the west to beyond Markham and Scarborough in the east.”
Finally, Ford says that his government would remove tolls from the provincially owned portion of Highway 407 East which runs from Brock Road in Pickering to Highway 115 in Clarington.
Ford has also mentioned, but not officially promised, that he is considering buying back the entire privately-owned portion of the 407 which was sold in 1999 by then-Premier Mike Harris’ PC government.
The Ontario PCs say that gridlock in Ontario costs the province’s economy $56.4 billion every year and that travel times on the main stretch of Highway 401 “will double” if they do not build more infrastructure.
Based in Hamilton, he reaches hundreds of thousands of people monthly on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. He has been published in The Hamilton Spectator, Stoney Creek News, and Bay Observer. He has also been a segment host with Cable 14 Hamilton. In 2017, he received the Chancellor Full Tuition Scholarship from the University of Ottawa (BA, 2022). He has also received the Governor General’s Academic Medal. He formerly worked in a non-partisan role on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
