In a recent letter to Prime Minister Mark Carney, the Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association (NOMA) urges the federal government to recognize Highway 11, Highway 17, and the Highway 11/17 corridor as critical national infrastructure by designating the corridor as dual-use transportation infrastructure that supports both civilian mobility and national defence readiness.
Rick Dumas, mayor of Marathon and NOMA president, referred to a Carney announcement for Canada to reach five per cent for defence spending by 2035.
“We believe that the critical infrastructure of Canada is the Trans-Canada corridor. And we’re looking at a dual purpose and dual use of the highway to simply move our military as well as our civilians, up and down the Trans-Canada corridor,” he said. “A serious event or any type of terrorism or monkey play, can happen, as we remember the Nipigon River Bridge popped in 2016. Now we’ve got the only critical link of Canada, that’s separating the country, (closed). I don’t think a lot of people outside of our area realize the importance of that.”
Given the national importance of this corridor, NOMA wants the federal government to work with the Province of Ontario, municipalities, and First Nations to modernize and strengthen the highway system through co-ordinated planning and sustained investment.
As part of NOMA’s overall proposal, Dumas said they’re also urging governments to start considering the development of a secondary east-west highway connection north of Lake Nipigon. The route, he said, would provide an alternative connection around the Nipigon River Bridge and introduce redundancy and resiliency into Canada’s national transportation network.
“The critical link that literally connects Canada is the Nipigon River Bridge. There’s no other way across Canada, period,” he said, adding, unless you drive down through Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, up and around the lakes and come back through Duluth and Thunder Bay. “That’s probably a 15-hour detour.”
Dumas says the secondary corridor would have to be from the existing bridge to north of Lake Nipigon.
In the last week, at least two road closures along the Trans-Canada Highway caused a backup of transports.
“All of our goods travel through those corridors across Canada,” he said. “These highways support the movement of people, goods and essential supply chains, while also playing a critical role in supporting Canada’s economic resilience and national security,” he said.
“Clearly, this is a vital link of Canada, and if you talk about the protection and sovereignty of our country, let’s look at the critical links. And the critical link simply is the highway.”
Dumas said that NOMA has requested a meeting with the prime minister and key federal ministers to discuss the proposal and to explore how the federal government can work with provincial, municipal, and First Nations partners to advance the modernization of Canada’s northern transportation infrastructure. He added that the project would put thousands of people to work over the next decade while investing the money back into infrastructure.
