Any tragedy on the roads is of deep concern to this government. Our hearts go out to the families and friends that are affected by those incidents on Highway 69.

Speaker, when it comes to this important highway—widening—that project is a priority for our government. We said that from the beginning in 2018, despite the lack of movement on that by the previous Liberals.

I want to remind the member opposite that 70 kilometres are already complete on Highway 69, and MTO is working diligently to get the approvals needed to complete the remaining 68 kilometres of the corridor.

In December, Minister Mulroney announced the opening of a 14-kilometre extended stretch between Highway 69 in the French River area. Speaker, work continues to complete a 14-kilometre four-laning project south of Alban, and this is expected to be done by the end of the year. We’re continuing to work diligently to build the rest of the highway and negotiating with the First Nations, an important piece of getting this process done, and the environmental assessments that are necessary. But we’re going to finish the job.

But also curious from the members opposite is the tone when it comes to building highways. On the one hand, they say no to Highway 413. But when it comes to Highway 69, Highway 7 in Waterloo and Highway 7 in Guelph, they’re all for the widening of highways, they’re all for the building of new highways. It’s almost like they acknowledge that we need to expand the transportation network across a growing province, a world-class province like the one we have here in Ontario.

We’re not only going to build that Highway 69, we’re going to make sure we build Highway 413 and prepare the future generations of Ontarians to come.

Congratulations on your win, and welcome to the Legislature.

You’re from Brampton East. During the campaign, we had the Liberals talking about highways: “No more highways” and “We’re going to cancel those highways.” We had the NDP, especially in my riding—“We are going to cancel the highways. We do not need any more highways.” It came from the party of no from the Liberals and the party of no from the NDP—although, oddly enough, this morning they’re asking for more highways, but maybe only in their specific area.

Can you tell me, member from Brampton East, why the 413 is important to the residents in Brampton?

My thanks to the member for Sudbury for his contributions this afternoon to debate. I do appreciate the member’s unique perspective, coming from northern Ontario.

Of course, we recognize that one of the things we hear about a lot from our colleagues in the north is the importance of investing in our infrastructure, including road infrastructure. We hear about the importance of broadening highways and ensuring there’s adequate shoulders. We hear about the importance of investing in good road surfaces in the north. I completely agree with all these investments. I understand the importance of building new highways and building good roads in northern Ontario. And yet, the member opposite and so many of his colleagues seem completely opposed to building any new roads in the south.

I’m wondering why the member opposite and all of his colleagues from the north, on the one hand, rightly advocate for more and better roads in the north and yet refuse to support investments in building up more roads here in southern Ontario?