Northern MPPs blast province over frequent Highway 11 closures

Northern Ontario politicians say the province doesn't grasp their highway safety crisis.

The MPP for Timiskaming-Cochrane says he is frustrated — not about the recent closure of Highway 11 due to a major winter storm, but that the provincial government doesn’t seem to understand how often it happens.

“Highway 11, between North Bay and Cochrane from January to September (2025), was closed for a total of 32 days, 32 days, 32 days,” John Vanthof told fellow Members of Provincial Parliament during Question Period on Thursday.

“(That’s what) we got that from the Ministry of Transportation,” he added.

During an interview with CTV News, Vanthof explained the MTO records closures in minutes and that he and his staff calculated the amount in days.

“We stopped at September not because it got better but we don’t have the stats for after September,” he said.

Along with minutes, the MTO also records the reason for each closure.

“Sixty-two per cent of those closures were motor vehicle accidents, 21 per cent were weather-related. We get that; we have weather problems and 17 per cent were various other factors, including sinkholes, washouts, vehicle fires and hydro issues,” Vanthof said.

The Minister of Transportation did respond while they were in the legislature, but the answer didn’t satisfy Vanthof or his colleague Mushkegowuk-James Bay MPP Guy Bourgouin.

“We’re going to continue to ensure that we have those highways clear. We’re going to continue to ensure that our winter maintenance program is enhanced like we have every single year, year over year, and continue to ensure that we have the safest roads in North America,” said Minster Prabmeet Sarkaria.

Vanthof and Bourgouin say the minister is not seeing the whole picture. Highway 11 is a two-lane highway that hasn’t been redesigned in years, and much of it doesn’t have cell service. The closures are about more than just the weather, the pair explained.

“The emergency room in Kapuskasing is closed because the on-call doctor is stuck on the road. Yet, this government refused to act and we’re still seeing accidents and closures all the time, and the winter hasn’t even started,” Bourgouin told his colleagues at Queen’s Park.

The closure earlier this week left some travellers parked on the highway for hours as the storm passed and crews cleared the snow.

The MTO told CTV News that Ontario’s contractors deploy their equipment within 30 minutes of the start of a winter storm to plow, salt or sand highways.

“Winter maintenance crews are active 24/7, seven days a week to clear highways,” said the ministry, adding Ontario.ca/511 is available to all drivers across the province and includes up-to-date highway information.

“Many of the towns and municipalities along Highway 11 will see quite a backup, usually of the commercial motor vehicles because they don’t have anywhere else to go,” said acting OPP Sgt. Kyler Brouwer, a media relations coordinator for the provincial police force’s North East Region.

“Whereas passenger vehicles hopefully can make alternate plans — work from home or delay plans, but with the commercial motor vehicles, we do see lengthy backup.”

Vanthof is also concerned there’s no master strategic plan on what to do with travellers stranded on the highway. He said local legions and other residents who have helped in the past.

Despite numerous fatalities on northern roads, Bourgouin’s highway safety bill was voted down earlier this week, and Vanthof said his continued calls for safer highways are being ignored.

“It gets 2,000 trucks a day and it’s going to get more,” he said.

If the government plans to develop the Ring of Fire safely, Vanthof stresses the Trans-Canada Highway will need major improvements.

“It is a highway of national significance. Making it as good in Ontario as it is on all other parts of the country should be an issue the government should look at,” said Vanthof.

“If you want to go to a doctor, to a school, to visit your family, you are on the Trans-Canada Highway and you’re sharing it with a lot of trucks,” Vanthof said.

“It’s under-resourced, under-developed, under-engineered and we’re paying the price.”

The Ontario government has approved a 2+1 pilot project for a section of Highway 11, but that construction work has yet to start.

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