The subject of a new Highway 7 connecting Kitchener and Guelph, already a hot item in the by-election race in Kitchener-Waterloo, got even hotter this week as Premier Dalton McGuinty pledged to have shovels in the ground within three years.
The announcement provoked a new wave of criticism from opposition parties vying for the seat in the Sept. 6 trip to the polls.
Opposition condemnation of the Ontario government’s handling of the project seems only to have grown, with NDP, Progressive Conservative and Libertarian candidates treating McGuinty’s statements with fortified skepticism.
Last week Kitchener-Conestoga MPP Michael Harris, Kitchener-Waterloo’s PC candidate Tracey Weiler and Tory transportation critic Frank Klees met in Breslau to discuss how the Liberal government has come up short in handling the project over the years, challenging McGuinty to make a move on a project that’s been discussed for some four decades.
Liberal candidate Eric Davis, not surprisingly, had a different take on the situation, arguing the government should be commended for taking on the task.
“When the McGuinty government (was) elected it had actually been underway for no less than 14 years,” he said of formal planning for the project. “It’s something the NDP could have moved forward, it’s something the Tories could have moved forward but they both chose not to.”
Progress so far includes the completion of an environmental assessment and the continuation of design work for the project to be completed in the fall, according to Davis.
In the past year a portion of the land through which the new highway will run has been purchased and a sum of $50 million has been allocated for continued property acquisitions in the 2012 provincial budget. The cost to complete the project was estimated at $300 million in 2007.
Davis has prepared a two-pronged rebuttal: convincing voters that opposition parties have never shown a sincere interest in rebuilding Highway 7 and emphasizing this year’s progress towards the completion of the project.
Reprimands from opposition groups are centered around emphasis on the Liberal government’s failure to make good on former promises to finish the project after the route was approved back in 2007.
Regardless of their differences, one thing that all parties seem to agree on is the benefits of a new highway to the local economy as well as the personal safety of drivers, as it will ease longstanding vehicle congestion and possibly decrease collisions on the road from Kitchener to Guelph.
Davis noted the latest pledge by McGuinty is the first time a date has been affixed to the project, making this promise different.
“I want to be clear on something: the project has already gotten off the ground,” he said, having issued similar statements defending the Liberal government in the past week.
