NDP politicians set off on road trip to highlight northern Ontario road dangers

TORONTO — Three Ontario New Democrats have set off on a 3,500-kilometre road trip from Toronto to the Manitoba boundary and back to highlight the dangers of northern roads.

Northern legislators John Vanthof, Guy Bourgouin and Sol Mamakwa said the time has come for Premier Doug Ford and his Progressive Conservative government to take action to save lives. They say Ford has not done enough to address dangerous conditions on northern roads.

“It’s shameful,” Vanthof said of the high numbers of fatal collisions and lengthy road closures, especially on highways 17 and 11.

Those are the two main routes across northern Ontario, most of which is served by two-lane highways.

“We’re going to drive from here to Manitoba on Highway 11 and we’re going to come back on 17 to North Bay,” Vanthof said.

Drivers and passengers are far more likely to die in a crash in northern Ontario, according to data crunched by the Northern Policy Institute, which shows the 2021 fatality rate was 9.25 per 100,000 people. That was more than double the crash fatality rate of 3.94 per 100,000 people across all of Ontario.

“The simple fact is, until we fix the road designs themselves, the rest of it is just playing at the margins,” said Charles Cirtwill, president of the Northern Policy Institute.

The institute and the Going the Extra Mile for Safety organization have long advocated for change to highway designs. They’d like to see either divided highways or the 2-plus-1 design, a three-lane highway with a passing middle lane that rotates direction every few kilometres. Those can be divided, with the barrier alternating, Cirtwill said.

The province launched a 2-plus-1 highway design in North Bay in 2022 and is twinning a stretch of Highway 17 near Thunder Bay.

But Highway 17, part of the Trans-Canada Highway system, stretches some 2,000 kilometres from North Bay to the Manitoba boundary. It is also one of the main interprovincial trade routes that sees thousands of transport trucks daily, many of which are involved in collisions.

Highway closures are also a major problem in the north.

Transportation Ministry data shows there were 363 road closures on Highway 11 in 2024 and 886 closures on Highway 17 in 2023.

Ford has signed multiple deals with other provinces to open up internal trade in the face of the ongoing trade war with the United States.

“I don’t have any idea how we think we’re going to be able to expand trade between Atlantic Canada and Western Canada if these roads stay the way they are,” Cirtwill said.

He said he was disappointed that improving Highway 17 was not one of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s nation-building projects.

The three NDP members of provincial parliament will head north of North Bay to Temiskaming Shores, where they will sleep over at Vanthof’s home. Then it’s off to Bourgouin’s house in the riding of Mushkegowuk-James Bay via Highway 11.

The entire road trip will take at least a week from Toronto to Manitoba and back to North Bay. They will document their trip and talk to some families who’ve lost loved ones to car crashes.

“As northern MPPs, we are people too,” said Mamakwa, who represents the province’s largest geographical riding of Kiiwetinoong. “We use these roads as well. We understand what it’s like to worry whether your loved ones are going to make it home safe.”

Last summer, Ford told a news conference in Thunder Bay he was “all in” on twinning the Trans-Canada Highway across northern Ontario. A spokesperson for Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria did not answer questions on whether the province has done anything after Ford’s statement.

But Dakota Brasier said the province “has supported commuters in the North and will continue to make critical investment to ensure our northern roads are safe.”

“We are investing $30 billion to expand and strengthen Ontario’s highway network in every corner of the province,” Brasier said. “We are twinning key sections of highways 11 and 17 to improve safety, rebuilding and widening critical corridors to protect northern families, and cracking down on dangerous driving and impaired drivers.”

It’s not enough, Vanthof said.

“We are encouraged that they are doing small stretches, no problem with that,” he said. “But the problem is much, much bigger than a contract here or there.”

The province has also committed at least $1 billion to build a road to the Ring of Fire region for mining companies and to connect two First Nations to the provincial highway system.

“You know where the Ring of Fire road comes out? Highway 11 by Geraldton, one of the worst stretches of Highway 11,” Vanthof said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 3, 2026.

Liam Casey, The Canadian Press