Premier Doug Ford rolled out some relief for Ontario drivers Tuesday, announcing the removal of tolls on a provincially-owned stretch of Highway 407 East from Pickering to Clarington, and making permanent a previous cut to the gas tax.
“Today, I’m announcing that as part of our upcoming budget, our government will be making our temporary cuts to gas and fuel tax permanent,” Ford said at a news conference in Pickering Tuesday.
He said the government is also introducing legislation that would remove tolls from the provincially owned section of Highway 407, from Brock Road to Highway 35/115, effective June 1, 2025.
The province said making the gas tax permanent will save households around $115 per year on average, while the removal of tolls from a portion of Highway 407 could save daily commuters as much as $7,200 annually.
The Ford government temporarily cut the gas tax rate by 5.7 cents per litre and the fuel (diesel) tax rate by 5.3 cents per litre in July 2022. The government has since extended the cuts four times.
In the provincial election campaign in February, Ford promised to make the cuts permanent. The removal of some Hwy. 407 tolls was also an election promise.
The latest move would mean that there are no more tolls on any provincially-owned portions of the highway. Tolls would remain in effect on the section which is privately owned.
The government did not say how much the cuts will cost.
“This is all about putting money back into taxpayers’ pockets,” Ford said. “You know, a lot of governments in the past believed it’s their money. We don’t believe it’s our money, the government’s money; It’s the taxpayers’ money.”
The news comes as the government prepares to release its first budget since the election.
Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy is set to deliver Ontario’s latest budget at Queen’s Park on Thursday, with the need to protect Ontario’s economy from U.S. tariffs expected to be the dominant theme.
Ford also confirmed that he plans to proceed with building a tunnel under Hwy. 401 across the GTA as he has proposed before.
“We’re looking at every option out there, but the 407 – all 400 series highways – will be maxed out in the next 10 years,” Ford said. “We know the 401’s maxed out. I drive by there at midnight, like, I don’t know where everyone’s going. It’s absolutely jammed at midnight. So we’re going to move forward with that, you know the tunnel. It’s going to be a great project.”
He said digging under Hwy. 401 would be “relatively easy” compared to the “complicated digs” involved for the subway expansion the province is carrying out.
