Subsidizing Hwy. 407 truck tolls will create lineups ‘from here to Timbuktu’: Ford
Premier Doug Ford is pressing the brakes on the idea of subsidizing tolls for trucks on Highway 407.
Global News revealed earlier this month that Ford’s office had directed civil servants to research a signature policy pitched by the NDP in 2022.
Internal emails and documents obtained using freedom of information laws showed that civil servants were told to “brainstorm and explore” policies to reduce congestion on Highway 401, including “diverting commercial truck traffic” to the 407.
Highway 401 is among the most congested arterial routes in North America, while the privately operated and tolled Highway 407 — which was sold on a 99-year lease at the turn of the century — generally flows fast.
“We talked to the trucking association, and the problem was that when you put trucks on there, and when they all get off at the same exit, there’s going to be a lineup … from here to Timbuktu,” Ford told reporters Wednesday at an unrelated news conference.
“We don’t plan on putting trucks on the 407.”
However, Ford acknowledged once again that less than three months after removing tolls from the publicly owned portion of 407, traffic on it is getting out of hand.
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Ford said earlier this month that he is considering expanding the now-clogged artery.
“Since we’ve taken the tolls off, I know on the weekends, it gets pretty busy where it’s not tolled,” he said Wednesday.
“Maybe we have to think about the future, maybe expanding that.”
Ford’s comments come on the same day he announced that construction on Highway 413 will kick off in the coming months, even as the overall costs and completion date remain a tightly guarded secret at Queen’s Park.
The Ford government announced that two construction contracts — to upgrade Highway 10 in Caledon and the 401/407 interchange in Mississauga — have been awarded, paving the way for the premier’s long-promised 52-kilometre highway connecting drivers from Milton and Halton to Vaughan.
Ford also confirmed his efforts to shift a significant portion of the highway to accommodate a request from a Canadian developer looking to save a planned housing project in the area.
Global News revealed Ford was considering a “developer proposed alignment” that would have shifted the 413 by approximately 600 metres in Caledon to prevent it from cutting through the development.
Ford said Wednesday it was “common sense” to do so.
— with files from Isaac Callan
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
TORONTO – Toronto Blue Jays utilityman Ernie Clement suffered a “very small” hairline fracture to a small bone at the base of his left middle finger, manager John Schneider said.
Clement was not in the starting lineup for Toronto’s home game against the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday night but was available if needed.
“I don’t think it’s going to get worse or heal any differently if he was playing or not,” Schneider said in a media availability before the rubber game of the three-game series.
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Clement was hit by a pitch in the hand in the opener on Monday night. He stayed in the game and had a run and a hit in Toronto’s 10-4 win.
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Clement had two hits in the Blue Jays’ 7-5 loss on Tuesday night. A CT scan after the game revealed the fracture, Schneider said.
“It’s pain tolerance,” he said. “Just giving him a day to day and hopefully tomorrow (he can return).”
Clement also needed 10 stitches in his left shin after he was spiked while making a tag at third base on Tuesday.
He has a .274 average with nine homers and 40 RBIs in 130 games this season.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 27, 2025.
© 2025 The Canadian Press
A parks and forestry manager in Stratford, Ont., is asking residents to stay on the lookout as five of the city’s iconic swans remain at large.
Quin Malott says he first noticed the dwindling number of swans two weeks ago, when he went to feed the usual six floating on Lake Victoria in the city’s centre.
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He says all six swans were missing when he returned to the same area the following day, leaving no trace — not even feathers.
Malott says he doesn’t know if the birds were taken, but it is a possibility since they’ve become accustomed to being fed by humans.
He says close to a dozen Stratford residents called to report they had spotted one of the fugitive birds in the city’s north end earlier this week, and there are plans to recover it on Thursday.
Malott says the swans are not tracked with devices and asks anyone who sees one on the run to give him or the city a call.
© 2025 The Canadian Press
Construction on Premier Doug Ford’s marquee Highway 413 will kick off in the coming months, the government said, even as the overall costs and completion date for the project remains a tightly guarded secret at Queen’s Park.
The Ford government announced two construction contracts — to upgrade Highway 10 in Caledon and the 401/407 interchange in Mississauga — have been awarded, paving the way for the premier’s long-promised 52-kilometre highway connecting drivers from Milton and Halton to Vaughan.
When pressed for construction timelines and overall cost estimates for the highway project, however, the government offered few details.
“What I have been told, this is going to start in the next few days. And the other the other interchange is going to start in the next couple of weeks,” Ford said.
Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria said the project falls under the government’s overall 10-year, $30 billion public infrastructure capital plan but declined to give a specific number citing the process of awarding contracts.
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“Over the next couple of years, you will see the contract has been broken up into many different pieces. That enables more workers to get to work quicker,” Sarkaria said.
“We’ll continue to work with, those in the industry to accelerate it and get it done as quickly as possible,” Sarkaria said.
Ford confirms effort to shift 413 Route
Ford also confirmed his efforts to shift a significant portion of the highway to accommodate a request from a Canadian developer looking to save a planned housing project in the area.
Global News revealed Ford was considering a “developer proposed alignment” which would have shifted the 413 by approximately 600 meters in Caledon to prevent it from cutting though the development.
At a news conference, Wednesday, Ford confirmed the effort and called it “common sense.”
“You’re taking away over 3,000 homes and good jobs and so on and so forth,” Ford said, adding the project could be saved “if they just moved it up 600 metres.”
Documents obtained by Global News showed the premier was warned by ministry officials that realigning the highway would trigger a two-year delay because portions of the project would require a new environmental assessment.
Any realignment from the current “preferred route” would have also impacted other road construction projects, regional infrastructure plans and home construction as well.
After Global News reached out to the government after the confidential document, the Premier’s Office said the route change was no longer under consideration.
“They’re saying it would take two years,” Ford said of the briefing he received. “They were giving me every excuse in the world for why it can’t be done.”
Caledon Mayor Anette Groves said the request from the developer “isn’t unusual” and had been considered by the town council as well.
“But as the premier said … if it’s going to delay projects and it can’t be done, it just can’t be done,” Groves said.
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
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