MILTON, Ont. — The festive atmosphere at Ford Fest Friday evening (Aug. 16) stood in contrast to the protests just outside the venue, where demonstrators rallied against Doug Ford government’s policies and direction.
As vehicles lined up to enter Country Heritage Park, arriving attendees were met by a few dozen protesters, holding signs and chanting slogans.
One of the protesters, Sandra Voisin, a member of Sustainable Milton, voiced her outrage about the impact of Highway 413, which would stretch from Milton to Vaughan and potentially “open up development.”
“It's going to ruin the wetlands. Wetlands are important. We've all seen what kind of weather we're getting, like the amount of rain, right? And we just can't afford to pave over more of it,” she told MiltonToday. “The lack of long-term thinking infuriates me."
The rally was attended by various other organizations, including Halton Hills Climate Action, CUPE Ontario, Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL), Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation (OSSTF) and Environmental Defence.
Laura Walton, president of OFL, denounced the government’s dismantling of public services, declaring: “We won’t stand for it.” Karen Littlewood, president of OSSTF, highlighted the $1,500 drop in per-pupil funding since 2018 and noted that “our university sector is the lowest funded in the country.”
Guelph MPP Mike Schreiner also spoke, criticizing the PC government for “privatizing our health-care system, undermining our education system and systematically destroying the public services we all depend on to build caring communities.”
“We need a government that's going to build homes that people can afford in the communities they love without paving over our farmlands, our wetlands and our Greenbelt,” he said. “We are going to stop Hwy. 413, and we're going to put that money into health care, affordable housing, better public education, ending legislated poverty and building the Ontario we want and we need.”
The event — the first of its kind in Milton — had been expected to attract a few thousand people.
When Premier Ford took the stage at around 6:40 p.m. to make his remarks, he touted the province’s growth over the past six years.
“There's 800,000 more people working in Ontario today than when we took office in 2018,” he said.
“We're spending an unprecedented amount on health care. It's never been done before — $22 billion more over the last few years in health care, that's not including what we're building as well. In health care, we've added over 3,500 new hospital beds since 2020."
Ford, joined by MPPs from across Ontario, including Milton, Oakville and Burlington, as well as Milton and Oakville mayors, and other officials, said the government also plans to add 3,000 more beds, including in Halton.
“In education, we are building $16 billion worth of schools. We're building two new elementary schools right here in Milton, accommodating close to 1,700 students, and we're investing nearly $100 billion for transit projects, roads, bridges and highways. We've expanded highway 401, with 18 kilometres of new lanes between Mississauga and Milton.
“Next year, we're going to get shovels in the ground for Hwy. 413. This highway is going to be a game changer for commuters here in Milton. It's going to reduce travel times by 30 minutes each way, saving drivers up to one hour per day on one of the most congested corridors in North America.”
However, internal Ministry of Transportation documents, as reported by The Trillium, suggest that the planned highway is not expected to ease gridlock on 400-series highways.
On making two-way, all-day GO service a reality, Ford called on the federal government to “join us in cost sharing partnerships to build a fully separated passenger rail line.”