SUDBURY -- UPDATE: Bill 125 sought to improve winter highway maintenance on highways 11 and 17 in order to reduce the number of winter closures and collisions on Northern Ontario roads.

Despite NDP MPP Guy Bourgouin's efforts, the bill was defeated after Doug Ford's Conservatives voted against it.

"The Ford Conservative government has shamelessly put a price on the lives of people that tragically die and get injured on Northern Ontario highways every winter. While the Liberals privatized and de-regulated winter highway maintenance, Doug Ford's Conservatives are taking us from bad to worse by voting down a bill that could have improved the quality of our roads, and saved live," stated Bourgouin. "Ford's northern ministers Greg Rickford, Ross Romano and Vic Fedeli all skipped the vote, preferring to toe Ford's line rather than stand up and protect northern families."

Bourgouin's comments took place at Queen's Park in Toronto on November 7.

Original:

A northern Ontario MPP brought up the need for improved winter road maintenance on northern highways at Queen's Park on Wednesday.

Mushkegowuk-James Bay Mpp Guy Bourgouin of the NDP spoke about his private member’s bill, 125, that seeks to make winter driving safer on northern Ontario's main highways, such as Highways 11 and 17.

He says the north is being short-changed.

"If we compare the regions of Temiskaming, Cochrane, and Kenora to those of Durham, Halton, and Toronto, drivers are three times more likely to engage in a fatal accident in the north," said Bourgouin.

"Bill 125 Making Northern Ontario Highways Safer Act is nothing but common sense. These highways cross the region and connect eastern Canada, southern Ontario, to Manitoba and the west. To give you an idea, according to data from 2013, an average of 54,000 truck trips per week travel along northern Ontario highways network and carry more than a half-million ton of commodities, which is estimated at $1.24 billion," said Bourgouin. "As a result, too many northern Ontarians have lost their lives and suffered life-altering injuries driving on poorly maintained routes in the winter."

Bourgouin blames the previous Liberal government's decision to privatize winter maintenance and enforce performance-based contracts in 2009 for state of deterioration.

He says the new bill will amend the Public Transportation and Highway Improvement Act 1990's classification system based on traffic volume.

The private member's bill will be debated and voted on in the legislature Thursday.