Minister, MPPs square off over 69.

Skepticism is riding high in response to the latest funding announcement made by Minister of Northern Development and Mines Rick Bartolucci for the projected 12-year expansion of Highway 69 into four lanes from Sudbury to Parry Sound.

Bartolucci spoke at a Rotary Club of Sudbury-Sunrisers post-budget breakfast on May 12 and said the funding is guaranteed.

This year the Ontario budget will invest $297 million into Northern highway rehabilitation and expansion projects, according to a news release.

Seeing is believing, however.

"Where's the plan and where's the money?" asks Nickel Belt NDP MPP Shelley Martel.

Timmins-James Bay MPP and NDP transportation critic Gilles Bisson is also questioning the guaranteed funding, as well as the existence of a plan for Highway 69.

"There is no specific reference in the budget for money set aside for the construction of Highway 69--not this year and certainly not for the next 12 years," Martel said in an interview with Northern Ontario Business. "I think it is dishonest to tell people the commitment is fully funded and to say the money is found in the budget, when that is not true."

According to a news release, Bisson said not only is there no plan for Highway 69, but the Liberal promise to create a $2.2 billion Northern Ontario Highway Strategy Fund to pay for Northern roads, has fallen by the wayside as well.

Both Martel and Bisson were quick to point out that the 12-year Liberal plan Bartolucci is now embracing is actually two years longer that the 10-year plan put forward by the former Conservative government, which Bartolucci had criticized when in opposition.

Martel, who supports the four-lane project, says she believes there are safety, social and economic benefits to the project.

John Caruso, chair of the Greater Sudbury Development Corporation (GSDC) and owner/operator of 1-Hour Signs, says four lanes from Parry Sound to Sudbury would remove the perceived barriers that a two-lane highway creates for southern Ontarians who may consider investing in the North.

With a 12-year window on the project, Caruso said it could potentially span three different governments. He hopes the commitment made today will be honoured by whomever is sitting in power at Queen's Park in the future.

"The question is, will it survive that commitment?" Caruso says.

He added the importance for advocates to be vigilant, keep the pressure up and to make sure that a commitment made for that fiscal year happens, in terms of construction.

"Maybe set up a citizen's audit committee to audit it annually to make sure the political commitment is translating into pavement."

In response to the criticism from opposition MPPs, Bartolucci released a statement outlining the track record of the Tories and NDP, both of which have held power but failed to move the four-lane forward.

Under the headline "Bartolucci offers history lesson to Tories and NDP," he accuses the parties of making wine from sour grapes.

"The NDP and Tories sat on their hands year in and year out during their time in government," he stated. "It is regrettable that both parties lack the grace to acknowledge that our government accomplished within months what their governments failed to do over the course of many years."

www.mndm.gov.on.ca

www.ontariondp.com

By ADELLE LARMOUR

Northern Ontario Business