Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'd like to amplify the comments of my colleagues, particularly Ms. Lantsman. We've put forward this motion because in fact these comments from the radical environment minister of this government have caused that uproar and caused that uncertainty. We've heard that from, certainly in my home province of Ontario, the premier and the minister of transportation, but we've heard that from mayors and provincial and municipal counterparts across the country.
The comment that the road network we have now is perfectly adequate to serve the needs we have is absolutely incorrect and alarming. The fact that it was given as prepared remarks at a conference would indicate that is the new policy of the Liberal government. That is cause for concern. That is why we've put forward this motion, so that we can hear directly from the Minister of Environment and Climate Change himself but also the Minister of Housing, the Minister of Transport and the Minister of Finance, who obviously are party to the whole funding of infrastructure and road infrastructure across Canada.
I stood yesterday on a Highway 403 bridge overpass near Hamilton, my home here. The 403, of course, is a major artery through the greater Toronto and Hamilton area. In fact, the bridge I stood on was one of the bridges rehabilitated with funds from the infrastructure program under the previous Conservative government. Of course, I also watched the gridlock and the lineup of trucks on the 403.
That particular infrastructure funding for the Highway 403 rehabilitation and the bridges at that time, in the years and following the years of the great recession under the previous Stephen Harper Conservative government, in fact was actually two-thirds funded by the federal government. The Liberal provincial government of the day did not have the funds to actually contribute their share to that particular project.
If we're talking about the 400 series highways in southern Ontario around the GTHA that are critical to the movement of people and the movement of goods, we want to talk about supply chains and we want to talk about ports. It's an area of responsibility of this committee that we spent some time studying. I was at an announcement at the Hamilton-Oshawa Port Authority in Hamilton in January. They are, of course, doing incredible work. With this announcement with a sugar company, they'll actually build Canada's largest sugar refinery right at the port of Hamilton.
Talk about multimodal; we have a port that now has a rail link connecting to Montreal, which was announced as well by CN. We also have the fastest-growing cargo airport in the country in Hamilton. We also have that critical piece of infrastructure, which is the road and highway network to get those goods. Ontario is a food and beverage manufacturing centre, so this needs to supply that. That sugar needs to get from the port to the food and beverage manufacturers in Hamilton and across the GTA.
This is good business, but people here are also stuck in traffic. They have that frustration every day. Whether we think about things like Highway 403, whether we think about the proposed Highway 413 by the Ontario government, or we think about Highway 401, which is critical and noted as the busiest and most congested highway in the world, they are critical to our trade corridors but also to the movement of people.
Again, I would suggest that we get back to the business at hand, which is the motion put forward by my colleague Mr. Strahl. Let's move forward so that we can hear directly from the ministers on what this new policy entails.
Thank you.