Huron Expositor, 2016-12-14, Page 44 Huron Expositor • Wednesday, December 14, 2016
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Canaa'a
Ontario commuters, the road tolls for thee
The idea to charge a toll
for drivers who use two
commuter roadways in
Toronto is sure to spill over
into the rest of the province,
especially now that Premier
Kathleen Wynne says she has
no objections.
At issue are the Gardiner
Expressway and the Don Val-
ley Parkway, two heavily used
roadways that carry thou-
sands of commuters in and
out of Toronto every day.
Mayor John Tory last month
said establishing them as toll
roads would help contribute
to their upkeep, adding that,
as an example, a $2 per vehi-
cle toll would easily raise
$200 million annually for the
municipal treasury.
Some have expressed out-
rage, but that is mostly
expressed by commuters and
by other motorists who fear
such an idea could spread to
roads elsewhere in Ontario.
Tory noted tolls are paid in
many cities around the
world, and have been shown
to reduce travel times and
ease congestion. Moreover,
they also encourage the use
of public transit.
But make no mistake about
it, his concern is being driven
by revenue. Toronto will
need to spend approximately
$33 billion over the next 20
years to improve and expand
its major transit and infra-
structure. Charging a fee for
those who actually use those
public services would go a
long way in making them
more affordable.
Using Tory's math, Toronto
could conceivably raise $4 bil-
lion over the next two decades
-- something that has already
piqued Wynne's interest. In
2013, she said: "We need to
find a way to create dedicated
revenue streams for roads and
bridges, i.e., a fund that would
allow us to work with munici-
palities to make sure those
infrastructure needs are met."
Outside the privately
owned and operated High-
way 407, there are no estab-
lished toll roads in Ontario,
but such roads -- and bridges
-- are not a new idea. Indeed,
when the Garden City Sky-
way opened in 1963 at
St. Catharines, a toll was ini-
tially charged to help pay for
its cost.
As well, the Ministry of
Transportation in September
rolled out a pilot project that
established special toll lanes
on the Queen Elizabeth Way
from Oakville to Burlington
with a three-month permit
costing $180. The two- to
four-year pilot project "will
help the province learn about
and plan for a more efficient
highway network in Ontario,"
according to the MTO's
website.
Craig Robertson/Postmedia Network
Mayor John Tory at Executive
press conference after committee
meeting on road tolls and TTC
Thursday December 1, 2016.
Loosely translated, that
means the ministry is proba-
bly looking at introducing toll
roads to the rest of the
400 -series of highways in
Ontario, despite Transport
Minister Steven Del Duca's
recent claim the province has
no such plans.
- Peter Epp, Postmedia Network
P0V: Paging Dr. Hoskins, a new Rx is needed
needs is more doc-
rs and more
nurses in our hospitals help-
ing those in need.
What this province is get-
ting is more bureaucrats,
more red tape and a new
$90 -million unneeded layer
of lard in a health-care sys-
tem where front-line practi-
tioners have been cut to the
bone.
The group Concerned
Ontario Doctors is raising the
alarm that new legislation
will not just siphon money
from services to sick people,
it will also allow for invasion
of people's privacy. Bill 41
will allow bureaucrats to
access patients' records with-
out their knowledge or
consent.
We've already been warned
that the 14 local health integra-
tion networks (LHINs) are out
of control. Former provincial
ombudsman Andre Marin
slammed them for their lack of
accountability and "clandes-
tine" decision making. Provin-
cial auditor -general Bonnie
Lysyk has been critical of them
for their waste.
This new legislation will
spawn a network of 60 to 70
sub-LHINs.
Will we never learn?
These are unelected, unac-
countable people, often with
limited medical knowledge,
making far-reaching deci-
sions about hospital closures.
It has to stop.
In the 2014 election, for-
mer Progressive Conserva-
tive leader Tim Hudak
pledged to scrap the LHINs.
That's what should happen.
They shouldn't multiply.
The more this Liberal gov-
ernment adds to the health-
care bureaucracy, the worse
it gets.
Meanwhile, our doctors
and nurses are stretched to
the limit trying to provide
more services to an aging
population with fewer
resources. We see the results
all the time.
Trent Hills Mayor Hector
Macmillan was forced to go
to Germany for life-saving
NanoKnife treatment for
pancreatic cancer. We have
the technology here; we
don't have the money to
operate it.
We see it every day with
drugs that aren't funded by
OHIP — so patients face the
indignity of begging for
money for cancer drugs on
GoFundMe.
We don't have a revenue
problem with health care.
The Liberals brought in their
health-care "levy" in 2004 —
until then, the biggest tax
File photo
Eric Hoskins.
hike in the province's history
— ostensibly to pay for good
care. Then they squandered it
on eHealth, Ornge, LHINs
and countless other money
pits.
Health Minister Eric
Hoskins — a doctor himself
— should heed the good doc-
tors' diagnosis.
As the saying goes: Physi-
cian, heal thyself.
- Postmedia Network
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