ROAD SAFETY CAN’T HAPPEN WITHOUT BETTER ROADS: HILL

April 10, 2001

OTTAWA-Canadian Alliance Chief Transportation Critic, Jay Hill renewed his calls for the government to back up its commitment to road safety with a definitive action plan for restoring Canada’s road network, including new funding. 

“The Minister of Transport had a tremendous opportunity on Friday to hear from a significant cross section of Canada’s transportation infrastructure professionals” began Hill “unfortunately, he missed the ramp. This was yet another example of how this government is not willing to listen to Canadians.” 

Hill was referring to a “by invitation only” meeting held in Ottawa last Friday organized by Transport Canada. The meeting had been billed as a “one-day forum to bring stakeholders together to discuss achievable road safety targets for the next decade”. 

“These transportation specialists travelled to Ottawa – at their own expense – expecting to have an opportunity to provide their input into a plan on how to address our decaying roadways. What they ended up getting was a media-style presentation on what the government had already decided it was going to do – what happened to the discussion that was to have taken place?” questioned Hill. 

The “forum” was used by the Minister of Transport to announce Road Safety 2010, a long-term plan aimed at reducing the number of road fatalities and serious injuries in Canada by 30 percent over the 1996-2001 average figures. According to the Minister, the plan “builds on a solid safety foundation”. 

“The Minister’s own plan acknowledges that 30% of all collisions involve infrastructure factors,” continued Hill, “and yet the Minister did not announce any new funding to repair and maintain our national road network.”  

“The government collects $500 billion a year in fuel tax and they spend a grand total of 4.1% on our roads. If the Minister was serious about his commitment to making Canadian highways the safest in the world, he would lobby his cabinet to get the funding needed to make his “vision” a reality.” concluded Hill.