Printed from the Review
McGuinty quiet on Niagara’s border
Posted By COREY LAROCQUE
Making Windsor’s border crossings safer and more efficient will be a top priority for Ontario’s Liberal government when they get back to business in two weeks, according to Premier Dalton McGuinty and Finance Minister Dwight Duncan.
“Delays at the Windsor-Detroit crossing cost businesses billions of dollars each year,” Duncan said Wednesday at the Ontario Economic Summit.
“Just a week ago, the premier and Prime Minister (Stephen) Harper agreed that the Windsor border is a key priority for both governments to address in the very near future,” Duncan said at the meeting hosted at White Oaks resort in Niagara-on-the-Lake.
McGuinty and Harper agreed a new border crossing at Windsor is a project Queen’s Park and Ottawa should both promote. The Windsor-Detroit gateway is the busiest international trade corridor in North America and Canada’s largest border crossing.
Speaking in Niagara, McGuinty and Duncan both stressed the economic importance of ensuring of efficient crossings between Windsor and Detroit. But neither said anything specific about improving Niagara’s crossings.
Likewise, the idea of extending GO Transit service to the Niagara region also doesn’t appear to be a high priority for the Liberal government.
Instead, McGuinty emphasized the province’s “MoveOntario 2020″ program as the kind of response his government has for municipal infrastructure during a question-and-answer session at the meeting. Under the plan, the province will pay $11.5 billion toward 52 public transit projects in the area around Toronto and Hamilton by 2020. The province will pay 65 per cent of the costs, and McGuinty is trying to convince the federal government to pick up the remaining 35 per cent of the bill.
Getting more people out of their cars and into buses and trains could result in 400 million fewer car trips in that area annually, McGuinty said. It would improve productivity and help the environment.
McGuinty said he will look to transportation minister Jim Bradley to identify “broader priorities,” but the Move Ontario 2020 plan will be one a key priority.
“These will be our principal responsibilities and priorities at this point in time,” McGuinty told reporters at the economic summit meeting.
clarocque@nfreview.com
Article ID# 776870
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