A re-elected PC government will make northern highways safer by widening Highway 11 from Temiskaming Shores to Cochrane and will bring back the Northlander starting next year
Iroquois Falls, February 22, 2025 — Today, Ontario PC leader Doug Ford announced that a re-elected PC government will protect northern drivers and build safer highways in northern Ontario by expanding Highway 11 from Temiskaming Shores to Cochrane with a 2+1 highway design.
“The NDP and Liberals have abandoned northern Ontario, consistently voting against investments in roads and highways across the region,” said Doug Ford. “Our Ontario PC team is the only party that will invest to improve northern roads and highways, making them safer and more convenient for drivers. We’re also bringing back the Northlander passenger rail service starting next year, nearly 15 years after it was cancelled by the NDP-backed Liberal government.”
The Ontario PCs have already begun the process of widening Highway 11 from North Bay to Temiskaming Shores, with initial work set to begin on Highway 11 between Sand Dam Road and Ellesmere Road, and between Highway 64 and Jumping Caribou Road. If re-elected, the PCs will extend the 2+1 highway another 220 kilometres from Temiskaming Shores to Cochrane, with a new passing lane that changes direction every two to five kilometres. This expanded highway will improve highway safety and make travel more efficient and convenient for northern drivers.
Doug Ford also announced that, due to investments made by the PC government, the Northlander passenger rail service is on track to re-enter service next year, nearly 15 years after it was cancelled by the NDP-backed Liberal government. Once fully operational, the Northlander will provide regular train service from Toronto to Cochrane, with 16 stops along the way including in Muskoka, North Bay, Temagami, Temiskaming Shores, Englehart, Kirkland Lake, Matheson and Timmins.
Only Doug Ford has a plan to protect Ontario:
- Building Ontario’s economy by investing more than $200 billion in our plan to build roads, highways, transit and other infrastructure projects while investing over $2.5 billion to train more than one million people for better jobs and bigger paycheques in the skilled trades.
- Protecting workers in the face of President Trump’s tariffs by doing whatever is necessary to protect people’s livelihoods, including by investing tens of billions of dollars to keep people working.
- Keeping us competitive by fighting the job-killing Liberal carbon tax and urging the federal government to cut red tape and streamline approvals to get big things built.
- Cleaning up our streets by protecting families and children by banning drug injection sites near schools and daycares and clearing out encampments from public parks with new investments in shelters.
- Delivering better care, including by investing $1.8 billion more to connect everyone in Ontario to a family doctor and primary care.
Doug Ford will never stop working to protect Ontario.
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