GO announcement was “cheap publicity stunt”

OUR READERS WRITE

(Re: Province commits to building Caledon-Vaughan GO Rail Line in new transportation plan, March 17)

This so-called announcement was just a cheap publicity stunt intended to help the Doug Ford Conservatives get reelected in the June election.

It contained no explanation on how a GO Train to Bolton would be financed.

A 2010 Metrolinx feasibility study estimated the cost at almost $400 million. Similarly, there were no details on what arrangements can be reached with Canadian Pacific, which owns the rail tracks going through Bolton, to allow commuter train service. At some point in the future, there will be GO train service. But that is not going to happen for a few more decades.

What is on the immediate horizon, however, is the Conservatives' plan to build the economically ruinous and environmentally destructive mega-style Highway 413. There are a number of ways Caledon residents can take to express their opposition, including placing a Stop Highway 413 sign in front of their properties. (To order one contact; danoreilly@sympatico.ca)

They can also join a growing campaign to take this battle to the doorstep of Canada Pension Plan Investments, the Crown Corporation which oversees and invests funds to and held by the Canada Pension Plan. Although many people may not be aware of it, CPP Investments is a 50.01-per-cent majority shareholder of Highway 407ETR.

And making better use that existing tolled highway as an alternative to building Highway 413, the cost of which has been pegged anywhere from $6 to $10 billion, is a major objective of STOP 413, a citizen-led grassroots coalition with more than two thousand followers on its Facebook page.

In early December, the coalition sent a letter to the corporation asking it to begin discussions with the Provincial government on implementing a cost-effective Highway 407 toll arrangement for trucks.

Want to add your voice to the campaign to lower Highway 407 tolls to increase usage and relieve congestion? Please see the link below on instructions on how to do that.

Readers can write their own letter or cut and paste the letter on the link and send it to the listed emails.

If readers don't want to copy everyone listed on the template, they should at least copy Dufferin Caledon MP Kyle Seeback (Kyle.Seeback@parl.gc.ca) and Dufferin Caledon MPP Sylvia Jones (Sylvia.jones@pc.ola.org)

Here is the link: view.flodesk.com/emails/61e6ff6c4349404cec99b784

Dan O'Reilly

Caledon