TORONTO | The David Suzuki Foundation launched a campaign today to raise awareness about the destructive impacts of Highway 413 on farmers and agricultural land.
As part of the initiative, the Foundation will run print and online advertisements in media outlets near the highway route. The ads feature a photo of Caledon farmer Rav Singh and decry the loss of local farming operations.
“Highway 413 would destroy my farm,” Singh says. “We need our communities to be more connected and accessible, but food security and the protection of our farmland are not trade-offs we need to make. Another future is possible — a sustainable future where our communities are thriving, connected and can feed themselves.”
The proposed expressway would run some 50 kilometres from Vaughan to Milton, paving about 2,000 acres of top farmland.
Max Hansgen, president of the National Farmers Union (Ontario), explained why his organization opposes the project: “The province’s proposed Highway 413 would pave thousands of acres of prime farmland, devastate livelihoods and hinder our ability to feed an expanding population. We need a way to move more people, goods and produce around the region, but it should not be a highway through the Greenbelt.”
In addition to the farming campaign, the Foundation has run anti-413 advertisements on Brampton Transit and the TTC; released an open letter opposing the highway signed by over 50 faith leaders; launched a petition aimed at the federal government signed by more than 54,000 Canadians; and run media tours of the highway route to show journalists what will be lost if the project goes ahead.
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For more information or media interviews, please contact:
Kate Kourtsidis, Communications Specialist, David Suzuki Foundation
Cell/Text/Whatsapp: +1-613-806-8184
Email: kkourtsidis@davidsuzuki.org
The David Suzuki Foundation (DavidSuzuki.org | @DavidSuzukiFdn) is a leading Canadian environmental non-profit organization, founded in 1990. We operate in English and French, with offices in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal. We collaborate with all people in Canada, including First Nations leadership and communities, governments, businesses and individuals to find solutions to create a sustainable Canada through scientific research, traditional ecological knowledge, communications and public engagement, and innovative policy and legal solutions. Our mission is to protect nature’s diversity and the well-being of all life, now and for the future.