Construction of the controversial Highway 413, which will arch north of Highway 401 from Halton to York Region, is scheduled to start this year. The mega-project – a $6-billion, six-lane highway stretching 52 kilometres – will cut through 220 wetlands, 85 waterways, the Ontario Greenbelt, and the protected habitat of 11 at-risk species, including those of seven birds.

Despite protests from almost every community north of Toronto that the highway is meant to benefit – including Mississauga, Vaughan, Halton Hills, Orangeville, and Brampton – Premier Doug Ford has introduced amendments the Ontario Species-at-Risk Act that will reduce the amount of time a habitat can be protected. Currently the Act states that if a species-at-risk has occupied a particular habitat in the past 20 years, that habitat must be protected or restored. The new legislation would reduce that period to 10 years.

In October 2023, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that Ontario’s Impact Assessment Act was unconstitutional, and in April 2024, the federal government dropped the need for an Environmental Assessment on the proposed highway route.

The advocacy group Environmental Defence made a formal request to federal environment minister Steven Guilbeault to impose federal oversight on the project, but just before Christmas the federal government announced online that there will be no review.

As Environmental Defence executive director Tim Gray old The Narwhal, the decision to allow the project to proceed without an environmental assessment is “a sad commentary on both our provincial and federal governments,” and has paved the way for future “environmental destruction.”

At-risk bird species that will be adversely impacted by the highway include the Chimney swift, the Barn swallow, the Olive-sided flycatcher, the Bobolink, the Bank swallow, the Eastern meadowlark, and the Wood thrush.