A private member’s bill by the MPP for Mushkegowuk-James Bay passed second reading at Queen’s Park on Thursday. Guy Bourgouin’s bill to improve Northern Ontario Highways 11 and 17 is heading to committee something that didn’t happen two years ago. Bourgouin says pressure has to continue on Transportation Minister Caroline Mulroney to get the bill pushed through.
“The government can let it sit and that is one of my concerns is that we are what 100 days away from the election and for them it would have been badly viewed,” he said. “The last time they voted against it and a lot of Northern MPPs got raked over the coals by their constituents on this because people wanted safer roads. We are seeing now more than ever road closures like this winter has been terrible it snows every two days and now we are expecting what, where is it going to close.”
Bourgouin’s bill would reclassify Highways 11 and 17 by increasing the interval of snow removal similar to other highways in the south.