Response to Ontario Minister of Transport Letter to Federal Government

On June 2, 2025, Ontario Minister of Transport Prabmeet Singh Sarkaria wrote to federal Minister of Transport and International Trade Chrystia Freeland outlining several areas where federal financial and regulatory assistance is needed to modernize Ontario’s transportation infrastructure. Specific items were identified for subways, highways, rail, marine, airports, electric vehicles and critical minerals.

While Transport Action Ontario supports a number of these items, we felt we needed to comment in several areas:

• The real costs of provincial highways is high
• Need more provincial focus on southwestern Ontario
• Need to improve existing rail asset utilization
• Rail abandonments need more scrutiny
• Regional equity and rail tourism need more focus
• Descoping and delays of GO Expansion project have serious consequences
• Highway 401 tunnel in GTHA is a bad idea
• Infrastructure for critical minerals should include freight rail

Our letter can be viewed below.