Federal government gets thanked by the Chamber of Commerce - Region of Halton and its municipalities feel they have been betrayed

By Pepper Parr

January 31srt, 2021

BURLINGTON, ON

Full page advertisement in the weekend Toronto Star

The good people of Milton don’t see the federal government decision to allow the inter-modal hub that CN Rail has planned for the Town of Milton.

While the direct and immediate damage is focused on Milton the damage the truck traffic will do to the northern part of Burlington is significant and will never end as long as there are freight trains using the rail lines that will lead into the inter-modal hub.

There will be a reported 1600 trucks a day coming and going and while they all won’t pour onto the north Burlington roads – there will likely be more than the roads were built to withstand.

CN is of course delighted and they convinced all their friends at many of the local Chambers of Commerce organizations to take part in the sponsoring of a full page advertisement in the weekend edition of the Toronto Star thanking the federal government.

What seems to have been forgotten is that while the Chambers of Commerce represent the business interests in a community those very business interests stand to suffer and lose once the inter-modal hub is operational.

Tractor-trailer traffic in the community will increase, housing developments will suffer – the value of the homes in the immediate locale of the inter-modal hub will be assessed at a lower value than they would have been if the inter-modal hub was built somewhere else