Highway maintenance contracts need to be fine tuned, critic says

A provincial transportation critic says the province needs to do more to ensure the safety of drivers on northern highways.

PC critic Michael Harris says the current system of re-tendering for highway maintenance contracts doesn't work.

When Transfield services walked away from winter maintenance in northwestern Ontario, that should have been a sign, he said.

"You just have to look at that first failed contract in Kenora. That continued stubborn direction to stick with the same basic contracting system really led to only one bidder coming forward to take the job, and they weren't even from Ontario."

Harris said the Ministry of Transportation's new Twitter and other social media accounts might be nice, but doesn't do anything to make highways safer.

Harris said the Liberals have knowingly risked the safety of Ontario motorists to save a few dollars.

"These contracts run for decades, if not longer than that," he continued.

"The Liberal government introduced these contracts [in 2009] that really watered down the standards. For the loop times, it was a bare-pavement standard that, in fact, the auditor reported they weren't even meeting for a good period of time."

Harris said that even when the MTO levies fines on contractors for not meeting performance standards, those fines were rarely paid.