BurlingtonGreen is a non-partisan, solution-focused organization. Together with the community, we work to protect and care for the environment, now and for the future.

Highway 413 is a proposed 400‑series highway planned to cut across farmland, wetlands, headwaters, and portions of Ontario’s protected Greenbelt. The proposal raises serious concerns related to water protection, species at risk, flooding, ecological connectivity, and long‑term community resilience.

Evidence shows that the highway would save drivers less than one minute on average across the region. Despite this minimal benefit, the project would cost taxpayers billions of dollars.

What YOU Can Do

1. Find your MPP – use this tool
   
   
2. Call your MPP and the Minister of Transportation about 413
   Phone calls are the most effective way to make your voice heard. Let your MPP know that you do not support Highway 413. Feel free to use points from this webpage to guide your message.
   
   
3. Write a letter or email to your MPP
   Handwritten letters are often especially impactful due to the time and care they require, but emails are also effective when they are personal and heartfelt.
   
   
4. As a minimum, we encourage you to sign the petition. When signing, please make sure to add a personal comment.
   
   
   Sample phone call template:
   Hello, my name is _ and I am a Burlington Resident who is concerned with the potential environmental and health impacts that the construction of Highway 413 may have on my community.
   
   State your concerns:
   “I am concerned about how the 413 will impact waterways, flooding, species at risk, traffic, air pollution, food production, etc.”
   
   Tell your representative what you already know about the project and why the potential impacts are concerning. Then ask them to fight to have environmental safeguards reinstated, and have the project put on hold or cancelled. Thank them for their time, and you’re done!

What’s Happening, Why It Matters, and the Risks to Our Communities

Why Highway 413 matters to local communities

Highway 413 is more than a transportation project. Its construction would permanently alter natural systems that protect communities from flooding, clean our drinking water, and support wildlife. Fragmenting ecosystems reduces their ability to:

• Filter and clean water
• Slow runoff and reduce flooding
• Regulate climate impacts

These impacts extend beyond the highway corridor itself and would affect downstream communities, including Burlington. Although the highway itself won’t cut across watersheds that pass through Burlington, the additional paving and development that is likely to accompany the highway will disrupt drainage through Halton Region.

Limited transportation benefits and high costs

Several concerns have been raised about whether the project would meaningfully address congestion:

• Average time savings throughout the GTA are estimated at approximately one minute
• The most recent public cost estimate was $6 billion in 2018, with no updated estimate reflecting inflation or increased land costs
• The proposed route runs close to the underused Highway 407, raising questions about whether congestion could be reduced through better use of existing infrastructure
• There has been no commitment that Highway 413 would not become a toll road

Impacts on species at risk

The Highway 413 corridor passes through ecologically sensitive areas that support aquatic and terrestrial species. Environmental studies identified 107 watercourses within the study area, all of which support fish habitat directly or indirectly.

Species at risk known or likely to be affected include:

• Redside Dace (Endangered – federal and provincial)
  This endangered minnow is one of Canada’s most endangered fish species.Highway 413 would require roughly 132 river and stream crossings, many of them small headwater streams with suitable Redside Dace habitat.
• American Eel (Endangered – provincial)
  Requires long, uninterrupted river systems and is vulnerable to culverts, channelization, and altered water flows.
• Silver Lamprey (Special Concern – federal and provincial)
  Populations are already in decline.
• Silver Shiner (Special Concern – federal and provincial)
  Faces ongoing habitat pressures that would worsen with highway construction.
  

In total, 11 species at risk were observed in the study area, with four additional species potentially present. Species listed as “special concern” often receive limited protection until populations are already severely reduced, making early conservation more difficult.

Water, headwaters, and flooding risk

The proposed route crosses numerous headwater streams and natural drainage systems. Headwaters play a critical role by slowing water flow, filtering pollutants, reducing erosion, and preventing flooding downstream.

Disturbing or burying headwaters and wetlands can lead to:

• Faster runoff rates and reduced groundwater infiltration
• Higher volumes of water entering municipal sewage systems
• Increased flooding downstream
• Greater strain on stormwater infrastructure
• Degraded water quality and aquatic habitat

Flooding is already one of Ontario’s most common and costly climate‑related hazards. Climate change is increasing the frequency of extreme rainfall events, making the protection of natural water systems increasingly important.

Greenbelt and ecological corridor disruption

Highway 413 would pass through and alongside Greenbelt lands, which were established to protect:

• Water resources
• Farmland
• Natural heritage systems
• Ecological connectivity

The Greenbelt functions as an interconnected network that allows wildlife to move between habitats, maintain genetic diversity, and adapt to climate change. Highway construction would:

• Fragment forests, wetlands, and river valleys
• Break wildlife movement corridors
• Increase wildlife mortality from vehicle collisions
• Isolate populations and increase extinction risk

Fragmentation is particularly harmful to species at risk, which often depend on narrow, connected habitat corridors.

Indigenous Communities

Former chief of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation has been quoted as saying

“We never gave up the opportunity to sustain ourselves from these lands. We never gave up the waters in our treaty lands…[Highway 413] is going to severely impact and destroy Mississaugas of the Credit’s harvesting cultural treaty and other Aboriginal rights on our treaty lands.”

Much of the proposed 52-kilometre highway that connects Peel, Halton and York falls within Mississaugas of the Credit treaty lands. In connecting those regions, LaForme said the highway would cut across wetlands, rivers, forests, and agricultural lands.

Why the project was previously paused

Earlier versions of Highway 413 were not advanced by a previous provincial government due to concerns raised through environmental assessments and public review processes. These included:

• Significant impacts to watercourses and species at risk
• Increased flooding risk
• Greenbelt and farmland loss
• Questions about long‑term transportation benefits relative to environmental costs

Many of these unresolved issues continue to be raised by communities, conservation groups, and experts today.

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