Elections

The Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area has some of the worst traffic congestion in North America. What, if anything, will you do to alleviate the gridlock?

Responses to the question: "The Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area has some of the worst traffic congestion in North America. What, if anything, will you do to alleviate the gridlock?"

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5 Candidate Responses (top)

Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough-Westdale
CandidateBrief ResponseFull Response
Erik Coverdale Yes The Green Party supports making transit, walking, and cycling more desirable alternatives to the use of automobiles. The Green Party also supports the idea of mobility transit hubs in Hamilton, linking the city to the GTO. Light Rail Transit in Hamilton will improve public transportation and reduce gridlock. The Green Party also supports creating communities where we can live and work reducing the need for travel.

Many of these issues are interrelated. Creating more highways leads to more urban sprawl and reliance on automobiles, creating gridlock. Improved public transportation encourages development inside of mobility hubs reducing the need for automobiles and reducing gridlock.

The Green Party will implement a sustainable transportation plan to reduce gridlock and lessen the impact of rising fuel prices:

a) Promote efficient, liveable communities where streets and roads are safe for all users
b) Reduce commuting costs by supporting transit and affordable commuter benefits including incentives for ride-sharing, more high-occupancy vehicle lanes, and tax credits for public transit users
c) Increase incentives for low-emission, fuel-efficient and electric vehicles
Glenn Langton Yes See a need. Fill a need! A Libertarian government would advocate for private industry to assess and provide creative and manageable means to eliminate the gridlock via whatever options they can come up with, for example private shipping across the lakes making use of the largest fresh water shipping lanes in the world to move goods and people, expansion of the private rail lines, more private air transport etc. The government for over 50 years has not been able been able to adequately address the need for better, newer or more well maintained infrastructure, in fact they are now calling for more money to repair the "Failing infrastructures" we already have, its time to take a different approach because "doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result is the definition of insanity".
Robert Maton Yes Develop transportation alternatives to assist industry in Toronto to move west - to Hamilton, Stoney Creek, etc. I would add lanes to highways, improve the accessibility and frequency of public transportation between Hamilton and Toronto. Further, we need to design roads and incentives to encourage more car pooling.
Ted McMeekin Yes We are the only party that can be trusted to invest in transit in order to reduce traffic congestion. Since 2003 we have invested $10.8 billion in transit in Ontario - the largest investment in 40 years.

Studies show that traffic congestion costs the Greater Toronto and Hamilton areas $6 billion a year - and it could cost $15 billion a year if no one takes action. Currently we are building major transit projects that will relieve congestion in the GTHA including the Air Rail Link from Union Station to Pearson Airport. We also continue to provide dedicated gas tax funding for transit to 120 municipalities - $1.9 billion since 2003 including almost $70 million to Hamilton, and $10.8 million to Hamilton last year alone.

Going forward, Ontario Liberals will implement two-way full-day GO train service on all seven GO rail corridors, creating 68,000 jobs. For Hamilton, we will build two new GO train stations (James Street North Station in Hamilton and Centennial/Confederation Station in Stoney Creek) and will provide two-way full-day service to the James Street North station in time for the Pan Am Games in 2015. This will create 8,000 jobs in the Hamilton region. As people in Hamilton work hard to attract new types of businesses and appeal to younger families, more frequent GO train service only adds to the great quality of life in this community.

The NDP record on transit is disappointing. They have consistently voted against funding for transit, including the Air Rail Link that will connect Pearson Airport to Union Station and our budgets, which have contained transit funding for the City of Hamilton. The NDP have played politics with the PCs, voting together 183 times, against new subways, against GO expansion and against the gas tax for transit. The NDP have no long-term plan for infrastructure and have provided no details in their platform about transit expansion. In fact, by forcing municipalities to freeze transit fares, this will effectively stall any hope of building more transit in Ontario.

The PC record on funding for transit is one of neglect. While the PCs were in power, they averaged less than $450 million a year in funding province-wide: in 2000 and 2001 they contributed only $40 million to transit for the entire province and, between 1999 and 2003, they downloaded GO Transit, leaving it up to municipalities to carry the weight. Going forward, the PCs will dilute funding for transit, allowing gas tax funding to be spent on non-transit transportation projects.

Ontario Liberals have a strong record of investing in transit and is the only party that can be trusted to invest in transit going forward.
Trevor Westerhoff Yes The cost of congestion in the GTA is $5 billion annually. Ontario’s NDP recognizes that we need to provide convenient and affordable transit options to busy Ontario families by putting transit plans back on track.

In the coming weeks, we’ll be announcing more on our plans to tackle the gridlock issue.

Response Summary (top)

Brief ResponseCount% of Total
Yes5100.0%
No00.0%
Maybe00.0%

3 Candidates Have Not Responded (top)

Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough-Westdale
Donna Skelly
Peter Melanson
Rick Gundermann