The leader of the Ontario New Democrats believes infrastructure that was downloaded to municipalities, like the E.C. Row Expressway, should be uploaded back to the province.
Marit Stiles made the comment during a news conference Thursday in Windsor, where she was joined by Windsor West NDP MPP Lisa Gretzky.
Stiles says we have crumbling infrastructure in Ontario because the Conservatives downloaded everything onto municipalities.
The responsibility of operating and maintaining the E. C. Row Expressway was transferred to the City of Windsor in the late 1990s under the government of then Premier Mike Harris.
Since that time, the city has been asking the province to take responsibility for the roadway, arguing that Windsor spends about $10 million a year on capital expenses, such as road and bridge repairs, to maintain the cross-city roadway.
Stiles says the primary role of the provincial government is health care, education, housing, and infrastructure.
"We have crumbling infrastructure because the Conservatives, not that many years ago, downloaded everything onto municipalities. They have not played the role they should," she says. "The province needs to get back into the business of building homes and sustaining our infrastructure. We have a role to play there; we can't continue to download it onto municipalities to deal with."
Stiles says we can't continue to download onto municipalities.
"Toronto managed to make a deal with the province; other municipalities should be too," she says. "I went to the Municipalities of Ontario conference a few months ago, and I said very clearly, 'Our intention is to reupload a lot of this infrastructure; it's really critical.'"
In November 2023, the province agreed to upload two Toronto highways, the Gardiner Expressway and the Don Valley Parkway, in order to help alleviate Toronto's financial pressures.
In return, the City of Toronto agreed to approve the province's plans to redevelop Ontario Place.
Windsor West New Democrat MPP Lisa Gretzky says almost every municipality in the province has had to raise taxes because the province is not giving them the money they need to address infrastructure needs or housing needs.
"It's really not fair to be pushing all of those responsibilities onto municipalities and then washing their hands of it and saying we're not giving you the funding to take care of it. Absolutely, the E. C. Row should be something that should be uploaded back to the province," she says.