Ajax doesn't want the Province to sell Hwy. 407 and to use the money raised from tolls to pay for Metrolinx projects.

During a recent general government committee meeting, Mayor Steve Parish said money collected from the tolls "will inject substantial revenue into these very, very expensive infrastructure needs."

Metrolinx is a provincial initiative to improve transportation and transit projects in the GTA and Hamilton. It carries a $50 billion price tag and the work would be done over a 25-year period.

The Province is running a $500-million deficit this year and "we have no idea where the money will come from" to pay for the projects, Mayor Parish said.

When Wards 1 and 2 Regional Councillor Scott Crawford asked if the provincial government was planning to sell the 407 east of Brock Road in Pickering to Hwys. 35-115 in Clarington, Mayor Parish said, "No decision has been made or if they have, I haven't heard about it.

"A very bad decision was made 10 years ago" when the provincial government sold the existing 407 to a private consortium, the mayor said.

Aside from extending the 407 easterly, other projects in Durham include:

- electrifying the GO train service along the lakeshore to Oshawa;

- a bus rapid transit line on Hwy. 2, on Brock Road in Pickering and along Steeles-Taunton;

- GO train service to Seaton;

- extend GO train service from Oshawa to Bowmanville;

- connecting the Oshawa downtown with the GO station in Oshawa.

Mayor Parish noted both the Metrolinx report and Durham's growth plan anticipate an airport in Pickering.

During the recent federal election, all candidates running in the area were opposed to the airport.

"The Pickering airport has to be questioned on if it's any longer appropriate, especially when it's sucking so much oxygen out of the room," Mayor Parish said, adding the Town's official position supports an airport.

An airport needs "so much infrastructure," he said. "I wonder if Ajax should rethink it's position. We won't see anything for a long time, if ever."

The Region can't make a final decision on the Pickering airport until the federal government does, Ward 4 local Councillor Pat Brown said. "The Province and Region still have to plan."