A tiny fish could thwart Ontario’s plans to build Highway 413

August 30, 2024 Canuck

Construction of Highway 413 is set to begin in the Greater Toronto Area next year but environmental groups say they are hoping a tiny fish will get in the way of the province’s plans.

The Redside dace, a member of the minnow family, is considered endangered in Ontario. The fish, which grows to about 12 centimetres long, has red and yellow stripes on its body and is facing “imminent extinction or extirpation,” according the province.

Environmentalist groups say the fish’s habitat largely overlaps with the highway’s route. Highway 413, which will cross northern and western parts of the GTA, will link Peel, York and Halton Regions. The fish is found in a few tributaries of Lake Huron, in streams flowing into western Lake Ontario, the Holland River, which flows into Lake Simcoe, and Irvine Creek of the Grand River system, which flows into Lake Erie, according to the province.

According to the federal government, the fish has been federally protected since 2017, when it was listed as an endangered species under the federal Species at Risk Act. But this summer, a new “recovery strategy and action plan” went into effect to strengthens the protection of the habitat considered essential for the fish’s survival.

Rachel Jones, spokesperson for Fisheries and Oceans Canada, said in email on Friday that the federal government has until late January to issue a formal protection order for the habitat of the Redside dace.

“While the critical habitat identified in the recovery strategy and Action Plan is already protected under Ontario’s Endangered Species Act (ESA), further federal protections for these habitats will take effect once a ministerial order is published in Canada Gazette II, expected within 180 days of the final plan’s posting,” Jones said in the email.

WATCH | How a tiny fish could complicate the province’s plans for Highway 413:

How a small silver fish could stall plans to build Hwy. 413

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Duration 2:09

An endangered fish species called the redside dace could threaten Ontario’s Highway 413 project, which was set to begin construction next year. As CBC’s Lorenda Reddekopp explains, the federal government has taken the next step on protecting the species.

Tony Morris, conservation policy and campaigns director at Ontario Nature, an environmental conservation charity, said the federal government is legally obligated through its legislation to do something to protect the fish.

“The recovery strategy identifies those streams in Ontario that are critical habitat. It is a bit of a game changer,” he said.

Morris said people should be concerned about any species at risk because it represents a “canary in the coal mine.”

“When species like Redside dace are lost from the ecosystem, it means that other things are unhealthy with the aquatic environment and the surrounding environment, potentially impacting other species that may depend on them for food,” Morris said.

“You see a cascading effect on ecosystems whenever a particular species is lost. The presence of the Redside Dace, where they still exist within the Greater Toronto Area, means a relatively healthy environment, which is what we should all want.”

Formal protection order ‘encouraging sign,’ lawyer says

Phil Pothen, a lawyer and the Ontario environment program manager at Environmental Defence, an environmental organization, told CBC Radio’s Metro Morning this week that the impending federal formal protection order gives him hope and is an “encouraging sign” that the project can be stopped.

“We are optimistic that this recognition, this final implementation of overdue habitat protection, is in fact an indication that the federal government intends to slam the brakes on 413,” Pothen said.

Pothen said the fish’s habitat and proposed highway’s route overlap, and paving nearby land and altering stream flows are specifically mentioned in the federal strategy as likely to destroy its habitat.

He said he believes that a federal environmental impact assessment is still necessary.

The Ontario government's proposed route for Highway 413 would run through parts of the Greenbelt between the existing 400 and 401 highways in the northern and western parts of the Greater Toronto Area. — The Ontario government’s proposed route for Highway 413 would run through parts of the Greenbelt between the existing 400 and 401 highways in the northern and western parts of the Greater Toronto Area. (Hailley Furkalo/CBC)

Last year, the provincial and federal governments signed a memorandum of understanding on the highway, with the federal government setting aside an environmental impact assessment. But the agreement specifies the Species at Risk Act still applies.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford said on Aug. 16 that the province will get “shovels in the ground” for Highway 413 next year.

Gridlock means highway needed, official says

Dakota Brasier, press secretary for Ontario Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria, said the province is taking steps to lessen environmental impacts of the highway.

“Ontario’s Environmental Assessment is among the most stringent assessment processes on record. As we continue to work with experts in the field, the federal government and other regulatory agencies we will further develop refinements and mitigation strategies to minimize project impacts to endangered species,” Brasier said.

Brasier said a joint working group was formed following the signing of the memorandum of understanding and has already met three times. It includes representatives from both levels of government and “will help identify and recommend appropriate measures to avoid or minimize environmental impacts in areas of federal jurisdiction.”

The highway is needed, Brasier added.

“Our province is in the middle of a period of unprecedented growth, with gridlock costing our economy upwards of $11 billion every year and we need our infrastructure to keep up. It’s never been more important to build roads, bridges, and highways that drivers rely on,” Brasier said.

On a webpage about the species, the province says: “Habitat loss and degradation caused by urban and agricultural development are the most significant threats to Redside dace.”

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