What is the point of a nominally conservative party if it’s the party of back-of-a-napkin gajillion-dollar megaprojects?
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Ontario Premier Doug Ford is in a populist mood these days, the likes of which we haven’t really seen since his days as sidekick to his brother Rob at Toronto City Hall. In recent days he has advised homeless people living in encampments to “get off your a-s-s” and get a job — a tad simplistic, I hope we can agree; he has announced the speed limit on 400-series highways will be raised from 100 to 110 km/h — as if that really matters when you’re averaging six; and he has proposed buying the privately owned, tolled Highway 407 — essentially a ring road around Toronto — which is the last bastion of non-gridlock in the entire region.
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All pale before what I propose we call the Big Doug, in honour of Boston’s famous 16-year “Big Dig” fiasco: He wants to build one of the longest tunnels in the world, underneath Highway 401, stretching some or the entire distance across the City of Toronto.
This is happening, Ford assures us. “We’re going to get the job done, mark my words.” he told reporters. The only question is how long this tunnel would be, which is why they’ve launched a “feasibility study.”
“If they’re telling me, 30 kilometres is x (dollars), 40 kilometres is y, and 70 kilometres or 60 kilometres is another cost, let’s take a look at it,” he told reporters.
Now I’m all for thinking........