It isn’t going to be Breakfast at Tiffany’s for Hudak Friday morning. Cold porridge and a no highway here demonstration.

By Pepper Parr

BURLINGTON, ON April 14, 2011 – The Stop Escarpment Highway Coalition (SEHC) will be serving Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak a reminder for breakfast at the Burlington Chamber of Commerce’s morning meeting this Friday. The SEHC is protesting Hudak’s promise to build the Niagara to GTA Highway (previously called the Mid-Peninsula Highway) from Fort Erie to North Burlington if elected Premier. Demonstrators will let him know that the highway is not wanted.

Hudak is attending a breakfast meeting for the Burlington Chamber of Commerce:

• Friday, April 15, 2011
• Protesters to attend from 7:15AM to 8:00AM
• Breakfast to be served at 8:00AM
• Waterfront Hotel
• 2020 Lakeshore Road, Burlington, Ontario (at the foot of Brant St. at Lakeshore Rd.)

The Coalition is committed to ensuring there is no new highway ripped through the Niagara Escarpment, a national treasure and UNESCO reserve. They also want to highlight the importance of this issue for all Ontario taxpayers. “It may not be your backyard – but it’s your back pocket,” said Susan McMaster, Co-Chair of COPE. “Hudak is planning to spend billions of dollars for a highway that isn’t needed. That’s a cost we’ll all bear.”

That arrow is where they bureaucrats and planners wanted to ram a road through. And that battle isn’t over yet.

The highway got to be called the Green Arrow when it appeared on a provincial government map last October to the surprise of just about everyone. The community pulled together quite quickly with a voice that was loud enough to have the provincial government put a hold on the idea which at the time they said was just a concept.

For Hudak this issue has become the “apple of his eye” because he thinks he can earn more votes promoting the highway than we would if he were to oppose it. The Coalition which was conceived when Burlington Councillors Blair Lancaster and John Taylor held a public meting that saw more than 800 people in the Mainway Arena. Out of that came a list of people and organizations that almost immediately had signs out on the back roads of northern Burlington and then hours of time in meeting rooms creating an organization that pulled together a dozen different community groups with support from both the Region and the city.

Hudak is now up against a very well organized Coalition that has exceptionally sound support from the city of Burlington. While the candidates for the Burlington provincial seat are quite due to the federal election – you can bet the mortgage money that none of them will be with Hudak Friday morning. Support for the Green Arrow isn’t going to pull in votes in this city.

Signs like this were out on the back roads of Burlington days after the Coalition was formed.

While keeping the pressure on Hudak The Stop Escarpment Highway Coalition people have not forgotten what the provincial government is doing. In March 2011 the Ministry of Transportation released the latest report on the status of the project. Public comment must be submitted by June 6, 2011. The report includes optimizing existing road networks, a new highway from Fort Erie to Welland and continued study on a highway commencing at the 403 in Ancaster and cutting through Flamborough on the way to toll highway 407 in North Burlington.

The coalition maintains that this would irreparably damage Niagara Escarpment, agricultural land and eco-systems along the way. The Coalition is currently canvassing Federal election candidates on their position on a National Transport Policy and intends to publish the results. Members believe this is needed to ensure rail transport options are given due consideration in the Niagara GTA project as well as overall sustainable transport planning.

The local provincial candidates are being canvassed as well for their views on the highway.

Finally, a real local issue. Should be fun.

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