Ford believes Carney will designate Highway 401 tunnel as ‘national interest’ project
Written by The Canadian Press on September 16, 2025
GRASSIE — Ontario Premier Doug Ford says he believes Prime Minister Mark Carney will back his idea for a tunnel under Highway 401 through the Greater Toronto Area.
Ford made the comments today at the International Plowing Match, an annual expo that celebrates agriculture and rural living.
When asked if Carney has given him any direct assurances about that project, Ford said he just believes it will happen.
Carney recently named the first five projects in the national interest that will be fast-tracked, which is intended to strengthen the country’s economy, particularly in the face of U.S. tariffs.
One Ontario project was on the initial list — building small modular nuclear reactors — and Ford says that accessing the province’s critical mineral-rich Ring of Fire region will be in the next set of projects.
Ford has been urging Carney to include a tunnel under Highway 401, which the premier has pitched as a way to ease gridlock and boost productivity in the Toronto area, though critics have dismissed it as fantasy.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2025.
The Canadian Press