Stop Highway 413!

There are no two ways about it – the proposed Highway 413 will cause irreversible environmental devastation. This six-lane, 52-kilometre highway would pave over 400 acres of the Greenbelt and more than 2,000 acres of Ontario’s most productive farmland. It would negatively impact 29 species at risk, including redside dace, red-headed woodpecker, Blanding’s turtle, western chorus frog and black ash. It would cross over 85 rivers and streams and destroy or partially destroy 75 wetlands (28 of which are provincially significant), polluting and damaging fish and other wildlife habitat. It would also cause more than 17 million ...

There are no two ways about it – the proposed Highway 413 will cause irreversible environmental devastation. This six-lane, 52-kilometre highway would pave over 400 acres of the Greenbelt and more than 2,000 acres of Ontario’s most productive farmland. It would negatively impact 29 species at risk, including redside dace, red-headed woodpecker, Blanding’s turtle, western chorus frog and black ash. It would cross over 85 rivers and streams and destroy or partially destroy 75 wetlands (28 of which are provincially significant), polluting and damaging fish and other wildlife habitat. It would also cause more than 17 million tonnes of additional CO2 emissions by 2050, the year by which Canada is committed to reaching net-zero emissions.

Highway 413 must be stopped.

In March 2024, the Government of Canada reversed its earlier and much lauded decision to conduct a federal impact assessment of the proposed highway. The reason? The Supreme Court of Canada had ruled that Canada’s Impact Assessment Act was unconstitutional as it encroaches on provincial responsibility.

The good news is that the federal government has promised to amend and update the law, after which it can re-designate Highway 413 for an assessment. We need to make sure this happens, and quickly.

Please join Ontario Nature in urging the federal government to step in and fulfill its obligations to protect waterways, at-risk species, migratory birds and fish and to achieve its climate commitments. Specifically, we need the federal government to:

Move quickly to amend and update the Impact Assessment Act;
Re-designate Highway 413 for an impact assessment; and
Fully use its powers under other legislation (e.g., Species at Risk Act, Fisheries Act) to protect fish, migratory birds and species at risk that would be impacted by Highway 413.

Let your MP know that Canadians do not want this destructive highway and have said so in multiple polls.

Ontario Nature gratefully acknowledges the work of Environmental Defence, the David Suzuki Foundation, Ecojustice, Dr. Ryan Norris and others who are leading the fight to stop the 413.

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Photo: Proposed 413 Route, Old School Road with farm and escarpment view © Noah Cole

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Please ask your MP to make the proposed highway undergo a federal environmental assessment

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