Karen Deer, a volunteer activist in Markham fighting the eastward extension of Highway 407 through the Rouge Valley and farmland beyond, is surprised at how easy it is to spark citizen opposition to the road.
"All I have to do is say 407 and the Rouge River and people say, 'Gosh, what are we going to do for water, and where are our kids going to play?' " said Ms. Deer, a member of the 407 Action Group.
Yesterday, she and others in a loose coalition of environmental, transportation, native and land-use organizations joined together to beg the federal government to conduct a full-scale public hearing on the environmental impact of the proposed highway extension.
At a news conference, spokesmen for the Friends of the Rouge Watershed, Save the Rouge Valley System, Markham East Residents and farmers dislocated by the highway project, were joined by groups from as far away as Hamilton-Wentworth and Holland Marsh, to sound the alarm on the issue.
Many of the groups are also working with other organizations to fight what they see as excessive development with little regard for green space or the transportation cost of urban sprawl in the area. The groups credit the public outcry over the Oak Ridges Moraine -- where developers want to build as many as 30,000 new homes on what critics say is environmentally sensitive land -- with strengthening the movement. And other development projects, such as a possible federal airport in north Pickering or the so-called "big pipe" project to carry water from Lake Ontario to suburbs north of Toronto, are also attracting citizen attention.
"Many groups are together and sharing the information and supporting each other's efforts," said Ms. Deer.
She is not alone in noticing rising interest by Toronto-area citizens in air- and water-quality issues.
"The sensitivity of people to the environment has shot up -- and that's a good thing," said Bryon Wilfert, chairman of the federal Liberal caucus for the Greater Toronto area and the federal Member of Parliament for Oak Ridges, the riding that includes the moraine.
Environmental groups say the Harris government has abdicated its responsibility to conduct a full environmental review of the proposed highway extension.
The privately held 407 consortium plans to extend the four-lane highway by 16 kilometres eastward from Markham to Brock Road in Pickering by the end of next year.
Jim Robb, general manager of the Friends of the Rouge Watershed, said at yesterday's press conference that Ontario exempted the 407 project from several pieces of legislation that require environmental scrutiny of major projects.
While the province conducted its own environmental assessment of 407, Mr. Robb said it was done before the route was finalized and failed to study the impact of the road extension on air quality.
Yesterday, the 407 Action Group received support from the Mississauga of New Credit First Nation. Spokesman George King said the proposed highway project potentially cuts through ancient burial grounds.
He added that members of his group, while no longer in the area, have not legally relinquished their right to hunt and fish on the proposed highway route.
Bernadette Manning, a landowner, joined the fight against the highway when the province sent her an eviction notice three years ago.
She was told that because the road would run 650 metres north of her home, she would have to get out. "The notice was taped to my door. I read it and just started bawling. I didn't know what to do," Mrs. Manning, a mother of four, recalled yesterday.
Jennifer Lewington