"Ridiculous!": Canadians mad feds will no longer fund road expansion projects for cars
Canadians are expressing their anger at the federal government’s recent announcement.
“Our government has made the decision to stop investing in new road infrastructure,” Steven Guilbeault, the federal minister of environment and climate change, said Wednesday, as quoted by the Montreal Gazette newspaper. “Of course, we will continue to be there for cities, provinces, and territories to maintain the existing network, but there will be no more envelopes from the federal government to enlarge the road network.”
Later in the week, Guilbeault tried to partially backtrack and clarify his contentious statements by suggesting that the federal government would no longer fund “large projects” spearheaded by provincial and municipal governments.
Several prominent government leaders across the country have since criticized Guilbeault’s position.
While the federal government said it would continue investing in active transportation for pedestrians, cyclists, and public transit, Canadians have taken to social media and commented online their frustration with Guilbeault’s “ridiculous” announcement.
In a Daily Hive article, one person sarcastically commented, “Ah yes, we don’t need new roads, ever! It’s not like transit and roads are complementary and have different use cases.”
“I guess the smaller cities and rural and exurban areas of Canada will continue to suffer,” they wrote.
One person on X said it seems like the decision to no longer fund new road expansion projects has become evident as many painting road lines have faded, and there has been “little maintenance” to roads for years now.
“Our roads are awful and very dangerous because of it,” the social media user said.
this is evident by the fact that they've stop painting lines or doing very little maintenance for years now. our roads are awful and very dangerous because of it.
— Niantilik (@niantilik) February 15, 2024
Several others commented, saying the “next election can’t come soon enough,” as many criticize the Liberal government.
The elections cannot come soon enough
— David Cee (@CanucksIn4) February 15, 2024
Meanwhile, others say this recent federal decision should have been made decades ago.
“It became clear that [road expansion] doesn’t just contribute to environmental destruction; it doesn’t ease congestion either. We can see this in every city/region that tries it. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over, hoping for a different result,” they wrote.
Do you think the Government of Canada should fund projects that expand road capacity for cars?
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