Ontario to begin buying land to build Highway 413, construction slated for next year

Ontario plans to begin buying up land to build a controversial highway in the Toronto area that will pave over prime farmland, Premier Doug Ford said Tuesday.

The province will be meeting with landowners soon to buy property at fair market value, he said.

Field work has already begun on the proposed 52-kilometre highway that will run west from Highway 400 in Vaughan, Ont., through Peel Region and southwest to Highway 401 in Milton, Ont., west of Toronto.

Early construction contracts will be awarded next year, Ford said.

Earlier this month, Ontario and Ottawa agreed to form a joint working group to minimize the planned highway’s environmental impacts in areas of federal jurisdiction.

The federal government had marked the highway project for a federal review under its powers in the Impact Assessment Act, but abandoned it after the Supreme Court of Canada found parts of that act unconstitutional.

The province took the federal government to court to stop Ottawa from using the impugned legislation on the 413 project, which led to the agreement.

The province's environmental assessment continues.

The highway's construction will create 3,500 jobs, Ford said. The province has not said how much the highway will cost.

The project has received blowback from those concerned about the effects on the environment.