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MacPolitics: Liberal Insider Greg MacEachern On Twinning Highway Ban: ‘Noteable Announcement Did Not Come From Transport Minister’

By Andrew Macdonald

MacPolitics: Liberal Insider Greg MacEachern On Twinning Highway Ban: ‘Noteable Announcement Did Not Come From Transport Minister’

By Andrew Macdonald

Back in February, uproar among Tory politicians got media ink after PM Justin Trudeau’s Environment Minister announced there would be no new major highway twinning co-funds from Ottawa.

It is in stark contrast to the multi-millions that Scott Brison directed to NS to twin 40 km of the 104 Trans Canada HWY ($90M); the 103 HWY on the South Shore ($70M) and the 101 HWY in the Annapolis Valley ($10M).

Brison was in the first Trudeau cabinet from 2015-2019.

To be fair, the Trudeau government did more twinning in NS than the Harper Conservative regime. And, Brison twinned more than his predecessor, former NS minister Peter MacKay.

But, now the federal Environment minister has stated Ottawa will no longer co-fund major twinning projects. Road work is a provincial responsibility but Ottawa has in the past provided co-funding to NS.

Now, the federal government says it will no longer co-fund new large road construction with the provinces.

This means Ottawa has no desire to twin the 103 HWY ALL The Way To Bridgewater, where 26 people have died since 2009. It also means no federal money twin the 104 HWY to the Canso Causeway.

Word from Ottawa on not funding new large-scale twinning projects came in February when Trudeau’s Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault gave a speech in Montreal saying Ottawa will not fund new road projects in an effort to battle climate change. The thinking is that new highways promote more gas-combustion vehicles on roadways.

“Guilbeault noted that about one-quarter of Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions come from transportation,” reported The Montreal Gazette.

“While his government supports electrification of vehicles, it has also been investing heavily in other programs and plans to move Canadians out of private cars and onto public transit or active forms of transportation,” added the newspaper.

The Gazette reported the Liberal government has committed $30 billion to develop public transit since 2016, and has announced the country’s first recurrent financing program for public transit projects, which will provide $3 billion per year for projects starting in 2026.

The Liberal government also introduced an Active Transportation Fund in 2021, investing $400 million into projects that encourage walking, cycling, and the use of wheelchairs, scooters, e-bikes, roller blades, snowshoes and cross-country skis. Projects funded include multi-use pathways, bike lanes, footbridges across roadways, new lighting, signage and communication that encourages active transportation.

“Besides funding these types of projects, all levels of government must make the hard decision to stop expanding the road network,” said Guilbeault.

The federal minister said the government has made the decision to stop investing in new road infrastructure, having determined that the existing network “is perfectly adequate to respond to the needs we have.”

Money that in the past was regularly invested in asphalt and concrete for the ever-expanding road network is better invested into projects that will help fight climate change and adapt to its impacts, he said.

That Montreal Gazette article appeared on Thursday and was followed up by the CBC which reported that Guilbeault had revised his comments to say Ottawa will not put up the cash for “large” road projects.

“Of course, we’re funding roads. We have programs to fund roads,” he said.

Guilbeault said Monday the federal government will be there to support provinces paying for highway maintenance, but Ottawa has decided that existing road infrastructure “is perfectly adequate to respond to the needs we have.”

Given the significance of the new policy, it means under Trudeau massive twinning to Bridgewater and the Canso causeway might not become a reality, despite the fact 26 folk on the 103 HWY have died in road accidents. And the 104 HWY to Canso Causeway is also a two-lane death trap.

In Question Period, Prime Minister Trudeau said the government will continue to invest in infrastructure, said the CBC report.

Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston and Public Works Minister Kim Masland have said twinning to Chester from Hubbards and twinning to Afton in Antigonish County will happen between 2025 and 2030.

While Masland declined to comment, Houston posted on social media that “In Nova Scotia, we build roads. We’d prefer the federal government work with us to get them built, but we’ll continue to build up Nova Scotia either way.”

Hours after The Montreal Gazette reported the story, the Conservative Party of Canada was quick to pounce on the issue.

In a press release, Mark Strahl condemned the no twinning policy.

“After eight years of Justin Trudeau, Canadians are struggling. Trudeau’s inflationary taxes have driven up the cost of everything, forcing people to choose between putting food on the table and filling up their car.

“Now, on top of the misery Trudeau has already inflicted, Canadians learned yesterday that they would have to deal with gridlocked traffic, deteriorating roads, and a dangerous lack of road access.

“This radical and extreme position shows how out of touch the Trudeau government is with the vast majority of Canadians, especially in rural areas, who depend on roads for every part of their life. If the Trudeau government refuses to invest a single penny more into our roads or highway infrastructure, millions of Canadians will find it impossible to go to work or pick up their children from school,” said Strahl.

I recently had a chat with Liberal insider Greg MacEachern, a lobbyist entrepreneur with Kan Strategies, and a political pundit with CBC’s Power & Politics.

MacEachern worked in the PM Paul Martin government, and when he lived in NS he was an executive assistant to Russell MacLellan Highways minister, Clifford Huskilson.

MacEachern, who is from Port Hawkesbury favours twinning ALL The Way To The Canso Causeway. That puts him at odds with the Liberal Environment minister.

MacEachern also points out significantly the no new twinning money announcement did not come from the Transport minister.

On a recent Power & Politics show “he was quite critical” of the new ban.

The minister of Environment later muted his comments to say he was referring to large twinning projects, especially in Quebec, and that existing road maintenance would be co-funded.

“But, at a time like this, it is not really a great time to have a gun fight with the premier of your province.”

MacEachern has been on the new Antigonish highway, driving over the new four lane highway last fall – that 40 knm twinning project opened last summer – built by Scott Brison and Stephen McNeil.

“There are lots of places in the country that for safety reasons, the reasons for which the 104 Hwy was needed, are still important and relevant.”

“I would encourage the minister (Steven Guilbeault) to try and take VIA Rail train in Newfoundland or PEI. And then re-think the importance of being precise in your language,” adds MacEachern.

There is no VIA train in NFLD or PEI.

“He is the Environment minister, he is not the Transport minister. I think it is important that the record was corrected and that should be noted. And I am sure many of his colleagues have communicated with him, on how unhappy they were with the way he spoke about this.”

MacEachern wants to see the 104 twinned to the Canso Causeway. 1992 NS premier Don Cameron talked of an Atlantic Expressway to Sydney. As a Liberal leadership contender Labi Kousoulis promised to twin to Sydney and Yarmouth.

And, Iain Rankin as Liberal NS premier called for twinning to Bridgwater and the Canso Causeway.

“has come out to clarify
Now living in Ottawa, and a board of governor at St Francis Xavier University, when he lands at Halifax Stanfield he can drive to Antigonish on the McNeil-Lloyd Hines twinned 104 HWY, which the former Liberal gov twinned from New Glasgow to Antigonish.

Port hawkesbury
For more local coverage of this stunning policy, see other articles on this topic in our deep dive.

This new 11-kilometre twinning project on HWY 103 opened the end of December. (NS Gov photo).

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