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Take me home country roads
Tuesday August 19 2008
Rob Strang - On Politics
 
It’s the dark, early hours of the morning and I’m trying to get to a client’s site to meet with the guys at the start of their 6:30 a.m. shift. I’m travelling from Orangeville to Paris, winding my way along township and county roads. Yesterday’s work finished up late in the evening, so I’m tired. The squiggly route that MapQuest provided might be the most direct, but it’s not easy to navigate. At night I have a knack for reading the road signs just as I pass them. It doesn’t help that rural Ontario roads seem to have at least three names.
I’m told that if I travel the old Highway 24, it will take me close to where I’m going. Good advice, probably better if we still had old Highway 24. Alas, you may recall part of the Mike Harris Conservative “Common Sense Revolution” was to cut out sections of these highways and download them to the local municipalities. Somehow, changing the road signs and reprinting the maps was going to save money. As far as I can see, the roads still have to be maintained and there is only one taxpayer.
What this did do, was to make it much more difficult for me to travel between towns and small cities in rural Ontario. If there were any significant tax implications, it just transferred the costs from the urban taxpayer to the rural taxpayer — an odd goal for the Conservative Party, with so many rural MPPs.
It’s as though the decision was made by people from Toronto who only travel on 400 series highways, people who don’t realize that there is life outside of cities. Did they think traffic on rural highways was going to decrease over time? Did consultants forecast that fewer people were going to take Highway 9 to Arthur, or my favourite route, Highway 15 to Arnprior? Where did this brainstorm for cost savings come from and exactly what net tax dollars did it save? It seems to me it is costing a lot more in time, money and gas, due to a more inefficient transportation system.
I know, I know, I should let this go. It’s been about 10 years but it still boils my blood every time I get lost following a route that was once better marked than it is today. I wistfully look for those big numbered signs with the crown on them that will guide me in my wayward path. I secretly hope that municipal employees with faith in good government have squirrelled the old signs away in the basement of small town halls, waiting for the day when our secondary highways are restored. Sort of like the faithful burying swords until the true king returns.
My one faint hope is that all the Conservative MPPs who represent a large part of rural Ontario will repent and right this wrong that plagues our navigation. Forget privatizing Hydro One, funding for faith-based schools, or whatever the next great new idea is, just fix the old one first.

Rob Strang is a former Orangeville Town Councillor, a professional engineer and an occupational health consultant, committed to promoting sustainable development.