The Town of Ajax yesterday joined its voice to calls from the councils of Oshawa, Whitby, Pickering and Durham Region, asking for the removal of toll from the provincially-owned portion of Highway 407.
Highway 407, from Brock Road in Pickering to Highway 35/115 is provincially-owned and tolls on it are set by the province.
An Ajax town council resolution noted that Ontario passed legislation, Bill 162, the Get It Done Act 2024, to ban new tolls from provincially-owned highways.
It also noted that Highway 413, a timesaving highway running through York, Peel and Halton regions, is being built at a projected cost of $10 billion and is included in the legislation to ban new tolls.
“The provincially-owned portion of Highway 407, which is almost exclusively in Durham Region, is excluded from the legislation and is the only tolled provincially-owned highway in Ontario, resulting in unfair economic impacts to Durham Region residents and businesses,” the resolution said.
It pointed out that the Province of Ontario has previously removed tolls on Highways 4112 and 418 located within Durham, “demonstrating the willingness to removing existing unfair tolls on provincially-owned highways and should, therefore, include the provincial 407 as part of the proposed legislation.”
The town council resolution said the removal of tolls on provincial Highway 407 would reduce the cost of living for Durham Region residents and drive economic growth, while ensuring fair and equitable treatment across all provincial 400-series highways.
“Ajax Council hereby requests that the Province of Ontario remove tolls from the provincially-owned portion of Highway 407,” the resolution said.
Council directed that a copy of this resolution to be sent to Ontario Minister of Transportation, all local Durham MPPs, and all Durham local area municipalities.