Progressive Conservative Chief Doug Ford has stated he’ll hold current tax cuts on fuel and diesel and take away tolls on the publicly owned stretch of Freeway 407 if he’s re-elected as premier.
He may also go laws to ban congestion pricing on all provincial and municipal roadways within the province, he stated, talking in Pickering on Wednesday.
“You need to hold extra of what you earn each single day,” Ford stated.
He stated he’ll completely reduce the provincial tax on fuel by 5.7 cents per litre and by 5.3 cents per litre on diesel.
His authorities first briefly slashed the tax on gasoline by these charges in July 2022 however have repeatedly prolonged the cuts since.
Eradicating tolls will save every day commuters $7,200 yearly, the PC Get together stated in a information launch Wednesday.
Freeway 407 East runs between Brock Street in Pickering and Freeway 115 in Clarington.
Promoting Freeway 407 was ‘massive mistake,’ Ford says
Ford stated price saving measures are wanted within the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump’s risk to hit just about all Canadian items with 25 per cent tariffs.
Though these tariffs have been paused for a month, “none of us can breathe straightforward,” Ford stated.
“The straightforward reality is, so long as Donald Trump is president, the chance of tariffs won’t ever go away.”
Households’ budgets are already overstretched due to “inflation, rates of interest and the Liberal carbon tax,” he stated.
WATCH | Province has been contemplating shopping for again 407 ETR:
Ontario is contemplating shopping for again Freeway 407. How would that work?
Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservative authorities is reigniting hypothesis that Ontario might purchase again Freeway 407. CBC’s Lane Harrison has extra on what that might imply for drivers.
For a number of months, Ford has stated he’s contemplating shopping for again the privately-owned portion of the 407 – which tolls drivers at the next price than the government-owned stretch – to alleviate congestion on the 400 collection highways.
The province offered the 407 in 1999 underneath then-premier Mike Harris’ PC authorities for $3.1 billion. That is about $5.3 billion in 2024, in keeping with the Financial institution of Canada’s inflation calculator.
The price of shopping for the freeway is estimated to be round $42 billion, stated Maxim Sytchev, managing director of industrials and analysis on the Nationwide Financial institution.
That determine considers the worth of the shares in 407 ETR, in addition to $10 billion in debt the patrons would assume, he stated.
Talking on Wednesday, Ford stated promoting the freeway “was an enormous mistake, a few years in the past from a earlier authorities,” however he didn’t say whether or not he’s planning to purchase again the stretch.
Ontario NDP Chief Marit Stiles has stated she would get rid of tolls on Freeway 407 for all drivers inside 100 days of forming authorities if she wins the subsequent election.
Final week, Stiles stated she would open negotiations with 407 ETR, which owns the personal stretch of the freeway, to take away tolls.
Ford was endorsed by the mayors of Oshawa, Pickering and Clarington throughout Wednesday’s information convention.
