Premier Doug Ford is pressing the brakes on the idea of subsidizing tolls for trucks on Highway 407.
Global News revealed earlier this month that Ford’s office had directed civil servants to research a signature policy pitched by the NDP in 2022.
Internal emails and documents obtained using freedom of information laws showed that civil servants were told to “brainstorm and explore” policies to reduce congestion on Highway 401, including “diverting commercial truck traffic” to the 407.
Highway 401 is among the most congested arterial routes in North America, while the privately operated and tolled Highway 407 — which was sold on a 99-year lease at the turn of the century — generally flows fast.
“We talked to the trucking association, and the problem was that when you put trucks on there, and when they all get off at the same exit, there’s going to be a lineup … from here to Timbuktu,” Ford told reporters Wednesday at an unrelated news conference.
“We don’t plan on putting trucks on the 407.”
However, Ford acknowledged once again that less than three months after removing tolls from the publicly owned portion of 407, traffic on it is getting out of hand.
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Ford said earlier this month that he is considering expanding the now-clogged artery.
“Since we’ve taken the tolls off, I know on the weekends, it gets pretty busy where it’s not tolled,” he said Wednesday.
“Maybe we have to think about the future, maybe expanding that.”
Ford’s comments come on the same day he announced that construction on Highway 413 will kick off in the coming months, even as the overall costs and completion date remain a tightly guarded secret at Queen’s Park.
The Ford government announced that two construction contracts — to upgrade Highway 10 in Caledon and the 401/407 interchange in Mississauga — have been awarded, paving the way for the premier’s long-promised 52-kilometre highway connecting drivers from Milton and Halton to Vaughan.
Ford also confirmed his efforts to shift a significant portion of the highway to accommodate a request from a Canadian developer looking to save a planned housing project in the area.
Global News revealed Ford was considering a “developer proposed alignment” that would have shifted the 413 by approximately 600 metres in Caledon to prevent it from cutting through the development.
Ford said Wednesday it was “common sense” to do so.
— with files from Isaac Callan
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
Subsidizing Hwy. 407 truck tolls will create lineups ‘from here to Timbuktu’: Ford
