The McGuinty government is again setting an unprecedented record by investing $546 million in the Northern Highways Program for 2008-09. It reflects our commitment to ensuring the safety and efficiency of northern transportation infrastructure.
The highest annual investment ever, it includes an almost $80 million increase over last years funding throughout the North’s 11,000-kilometre highway network. Planned priority projects include new safety enhancements along the Thunder Bay Expressway, Highway 17 east and west of Thunder Bay, and Highway 11 in North Bay and north of New Liskeard. New funding is being provided to begin a major five year rehabilitation of the Noden Causeway on Highway 11 near Fort Frances. Furthermore, we remain on track to complete the four-laning of Highway 11 to North Bay and Highway 69 to Sudbury by 2012 and 2017 respectively.
In addition, the Ministry of Transportation is proceeding with detailed engineering work on two priority sections for future four-laning on Highway 11/17 from Thunder Bay to Nipigon and with two route planning studies to identify recommended four-lane corridors between Kakabeka Falls and Shabaqua Corners and Kenora to the Manitoba border on Highway 17.
Other transportation infrastructure investments include more than $18 million for local roads boards, winter roads and resource access roads. In the 2008 Ontario Budget, the McGuinty government increased its winter road funding for 2008-2009 by $500,000 for a total annual investment of $4 million. We continue investing in the services delivered by the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission as well as marine services carried out by the Owen Sound Transportation Company.
With all northern projects announced under the joint federal-provincial Strategic Highway Infrastructure Program either completed or nearly completed, I am pleased that we recently signed the Building Canada Plan Framework Agreement with the federal government. Under this agreement, Ontario will receive $3.09 billion from the federal government through the Building Canada Fund. Ontario will match federal funding, meaning approximately $6.2 billion will be made available for investments in our province’s infrastructure. In signing the agreement, the province confirmed that investments under the Building Canada Plan will benefit highways in Northern Ontario.
Through the Framework Agreement, Ontario is building on the success of ReNew Ontario, the province's five-year $30 billion-plus infrastructure investment plan. The province is currently developing a new long-term infrastructure plan, totalling at least $60 billion.
Northerners are seeing the positive impact of our government’s implementation of long-term highway expansion and improvement strategies. They have been developed within the context of Renew Ontario, and the $1.8-billion Northern Ontario Highways Strategy. We expect that by 2010 more than 2,000 kilometres of highways will have been reconstructed and 64 kilometres of new highway will have been built in Northern Ontario through this plan.
Advancing vital transportation infrastructure is an integral part of our Northern Prosperity Plan – a plan we have set into motion that has woven together a comprehensive range of provincial initiatives in the North to drive job creation, and economic growth and competitiveness. We are building on these achievements by working with northerners to develop a Growth Plan for Northern Ontario, which will focus on more sustainable economic growth for the region. A key part of the plan will be continued investments in northern highway infrastructure to improve safety, spur business development, create jobs and keep people and goods moving.
Welcome to our Northern Transportation Program website.
