The federal government’s failure to require an impact assessment for Highway 413 is a blow for Ontarians and nature. But, we’re not giving up the fight.

On Dec. 20, 2024, as we were all busy preparing for holiday gatherings, Canada’s Impact Assessment Agency (IAAC) quietly snuck in a decision to deny designating the Ontario government-proposed Highway 413 for federal study as requested by environmental organizations, First Nations, hundreds of scientists and citizens. 

The timing of the refusal seems to have been designed to avoid public attention and outrage over the government’s shirking of its responsibilities. The heavily criticized and destructive Greenbelt-crossing, sprawl-inducing highway project was already on the Ford government’s fast-track. Now, it’s a step closer to construction without any real environmental assessment or Indigenous consultation. This puts dozens of endangered species, fish and fish habitat, headwaters of the Credit and Humber rivers, first-class farmland, climate goals and public confidence at risk.

The IAAC posting clearly states Highway 413 is expected to negatively impact areas definitively under federal jurisdiction. But instead of acting to comprehensively evaluate the project through one streamlined process, they are opting for a fragmented approach, relying on the province to seek permits under various federal agencies and laws – including the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and the Species at Risk Act.

This is a much less effective way of safeguarding the environment. It will overlook cumulative impacts of the entire project and rely on the province to provide information on impacts to species and water, data which the province has shown little ability or intention to gather under Doug Ford’s regime.

The recent passing of Bill 212 demonstrated the Ontario government’s lack of concern for protecting water, wetlands, forests and wildlife by exempting Highway 413 from the province’s environmental assessment laws.

That move should have been the last straw to cement a federal impact assessment, along with the lack of public trust expressed in the hundreds of letters sent by Ontarians to the IAAC, federal environment minister Steven Guilbeault and MPs in support of the request for a review.

Despite the impact assessment let down, all is not lost in the fight to stop this destructive highway. We can still hold the federal government accountable to laws meant to protect species-at-risk and their habitats. The recently published federal Redside Dace Recovery Strategy and Action Plan for a small but ecologically important and critically endangered fish identifies waterways along and downstream from the Highway 413 route as key critical habitat that requires protection to avoid wiping out the species entirely.

The upcoming “protection order” for redside dace — the next step in the federal species-at-risk process which is due on January 25 — should prohibit activities that present “immediate threats” to this habitat. These threats include things like construction, paving and urban sprawl, all obviously associated with highway building.

We will be keeping a close eye on this publication and any ensuing permitting process to inform the public on how to ensure their voices are heard with Canada through their local MPs. Stay tuned!