'Transportation Minister just doesn't understand northern roads'

NEWS RELEASE

GILLES BISSON, MPP
TIMMINS-JAMES BAY

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Glen Murray just doesn't understand northern roads: NDP Transportation Critic Gilles Bisson

TIMMINS - An apology by Transportation Minister Glen Murray about northern road clearing contracts shows that the Liberals still don't understand the challenges facing northerners.

The apology doesn't do anything to improve road safety or deliver better value.

“The Liberals and Glen Murray just don't understand that northerners need their highways cleared, not more vague promises,” said NDP Transportation Critic Gilles Bisson (pictured), MPP for Timmins-James Bay. “As usual, the Liberals are in damage control and they're promising to take action 'next year.' People deserve safe highways now.”

Murray appeared on CBC radio issuing a series of vague and contradictory statements, praising private contracts saying “in some cases we got much better service” while also saying that he was “apologiz[ing] to people particularly in the northwest.”

He failed to offer a solution for this year, saying only that the Liberals would “review” contracts and only in “some cases” might changes occur.

“In the past, the Ministry of Transportation operated patrol and dispatch services. The Liberals took away those government patrol measures,” said Bisson. “Under the Liberals, privatization has increased and the MTO has stepped back from those patrol and dispatch duties. What will it take to get the Liberals to realize that road safety is a life and death issue for many Ontarians?”

New Democrats raised the issue of privatized northern road plowing as recently as December 2013.

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Additional SooToday.com reading on this topic

Company that plows Sault-area highways fined by MTO