Well, don't get me going on Highway 407 or Highway 401. We certainly have a problem in the GTA in regard to gridlock and traffic on the highways. The problem right now is that we have one route across Toronto, and that's Highway 401. In the gridlock, we have a problem of moving goods and services, not only for businesses in Ontario, but that route across Toronto going to Niagara Falls, Fort Erie, Sarnia, and Windsor is also used by Quebec industries moving their goods and services. We need another pathway.
Highway 407 has been on the books.... Actually, I was joking the other day that I was a teenager when I went on the committee five years ago. That road is having problems getting developed. I understand the committee is now working in concert on the EA process with not only the federal but the provincial government. If the federal government can do anything on transportation to moving goods and services—
It's also a safety issue. You have a distinct safety issue with cars and trucks getting together on a highway. We must make a safer route. Highway 407 is the answer. It will bypass Toronto, but it's not going to solve the entire problem. Also, that Detroit--Windsor border crossing has been outdated for I don't know how long; it has to be fixed to get these goods moving faster.
The governments know they haven't done enough on transportation and infrastructure in regard to the major highways around the GTA. The bulk of the population in Canada is in southern Ontario, and that's where the manufacturing sector is. If we lose the manufacturing sector because we can't get our goods to market properly.... You know, it's great to say that's only one industry, that it's 200 jobs, and they'll go somewhere else, but those 200 jobs, you have to keep in mind.... I told a panel this years ago from the perspective of a chamber of commerce: if those jobs in manufacturing are gone, they're gone forever.
It also impacts on the fellow who does the haircuts for those people, the restaurants, the insurance company, people who buy computers, it's a ripple effect through the process. If you start thinking you can move manufacturing jobs, they can go somewhere else, once you start that, it also implodes on the rest of the economy, on the small businesses that rely on the employees to buy the products, the men's wear, the ladies' wear, you name it. If all those jobs are gone, you can have all the service jobs you want in the world, but who's going to buy the products?
So you have to fix the highways.