Quote:
Originally Posted by Andy6
Northern Ontario was solidly Conservative at the provincial level for generations, during 40 years of PC governments, and it didn't seem to do much good in terms of highways. I remember when John Rhodes was the Tory MPP for the Sault and the Transportation minister we got the short four-lane stretch built through the Bar River Flats east of the Sault but it took another 30+ years to get the portion from the Sault to Echo Bay (nearly) completed. This is really essential for the economic development of Northern Ontario and especially for tourism. I could even see Manitoba and the Lake Winnipeg beaches developing as a destination for Torontonians on summer vacations if they could be assured of a safe drive across northern Ontario. People routinely drive to PEI for the same thing and would go the other direction for a change if the driving were equally easy.
|
Well, North
Eastern Ontario might have been solidly Conservative, but Northwestern Ontario elect it's first conservative to any upper level of government for the first time in 75 years last October. Thunder Bay hasn't elected a Conservative since the days of R. B. Bennett. I don't think we've ever been represented by a Conservative in the Ontario legislature. Most of the Thunder Bay Expressway was built under Bill Davis's
minority in the mid 1970s, and partly twinned under Rae. Other than that, this region gets little support for highways. Most of our road infrastructure only exists because corporations wanted to cut down trees.
They won't even add rumble strips. We tried asking for that and they aren't doing it. Just a couple years ago, the Thunder Bay Expressway got this fantastic new technology called "Cat's Eyes". Now you can see the centre line at night! Still no dividers though. How many more transports have to cross all four lanes and wipe out other drivers before they do something?
The reason there aren't as many people going through the north shore drive is because it's so dangerous. Trans-Canada freight traffic goes through the US.