The privatized 407 ETR highway’s toll fees are far too high. Because of this, the chosen few who can afford the 407 zip along at 120 km/h, while the rest of us choke in traffic on Highway 401 and QEW.

With so many drivers deterred by the 407’s cost, congestion on the 401 and QEW is worse than ever. The solution is to make the 407 more affordable, and for it to adopt operating policies that make Ontarians want to use the highway to its full capacity.

This may not be as farfetched as it sounds. Significant changes in the highway’s ownership have just occurred. The Canada Pension Plan is a 407 shareholder, and it recently bought an additional 10 per cent of the company. The pension fund now owns slightly more than 50 per cent.

With the Canadian public now the majority shareholder, this is a good time to ask the 407 to overhaul its attitude toward Ontario motorists.

The 407 operates as a standalone entity offering an almost boutique service. The highway’s owners don’t care how much their toll fees drive up the congestion on the 401/QEW, or how much the gridlocked 401/QEW drivers suffer. The 407’s mission is unblinking: to charge the most lucrative toll rates possible.

The highway’s fees are among the world’s highest. Driving 100 km’s on the 407 costs $54 during the evening rush hour. It’s even more expensive if you don’t have a transponder. This borders on extortion.

It wasn’t supposed to be this way. When the Bob Rae NDP government announced the 407, it said the tolls would be affordable and designed to generate $50 million per year. After 30 years, the highway’s initial $1.5 billion cost would be recovered, and the tolls would disappear.

The Conservative government of Mike Harris and Ernie Eves subsequently privatized the highway for 99 years for a stunningly stupid $3.1 billion. In justifying this highway robbery, Harris promised Ontarians the highway’s toll rates could not rise faster than the rate of inflation. That was a falsehood. Today, a slightly wider and longer 407 is hugely lucrative, generating $1.39 billion in revenue last year.

Now, to be sure, the CPP Investment Board has a fiduciary responsibility to make as much money as it can for Canadian pensioners.

But the CPP Investment Board also says this revenue should be created in a responsible and sustainable manner. Its website says: “We firmly believe that organizations that manage environmental, social and governance factors effectively are more likely to endure and create more value over the long term than those that do not.”

According to a study released by Metrolinx, the cost of the gridlocked public road system in the greater Toronto and Hamilton area economy will reach more than $15 billion annually by 2031.

The cost of this congestion includes reduced economic output and resulting job losses, increased vehicle operating costs, greater pollution, and more traffic accidents.

In the golden horseshoe, many commuters get on the road before the kids wake up and get home after the kids have gone to bed. They suffer ailments caused by stress and anger. Our health-care costs go up.

So how could the CPP discharge its social responsibilities now that it’s the 407’s majority shareholder?

It could make the 407 more transparent. The highway’s operators could ask Ontarians how it could be a better corporate citizen while still generating robust profits. It could acknowledge how it contributes to congestion’s social and economic costs.

It could make the 407 more creative. The operators could explore ideas such as reduced tolls for carpooling or the introduction of high occupancy vehicle lanes. The key to less traffic congestion is to induce motorists out of their cars. The 407’s policies encourage the opposite. One-occupant vehicles are assured a fast and unfettered passage from point A to B.

It could make the 407 a team player. The operators could offer hefty discounts on special occasions such as Friday and Monday evenings of long weekends. The 401 and QEW are essentially bumper-to-bumper parking lots when families are trying to get out of town or return home. The 407 could show motorists a little sympathy and reduce its fees to attract more users.

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It could make the 407 more user-friendly, and stop tactics such as suspending license plates over fee disputes.

The CPP’s majority ownership represents an opportunity to redefine the 407’s vision of success. It is time to be more imaginative. We should be saying goodbye to the isolationist 407, and welcoming a reborn 407 that fully embraces its responsibilities to all motorists, users and non-users alike.