Ontario will extend the privately owned Highway 407 east to Highway 35/115 as a public toll road, Transportation Minister Jim Bradley says.

While the tolling details have yet to be worked out, motorists could end up paying different rates for the private and public portions of the highway, which now ends at Brock Rd. in Pickering. The extension would be about 45 km to the 35/115, the main highway to the Kawarthas.

Bradley said people are anxious to see the 407 extended but generally favour a regime that would see toll proceeds flow to the province, not a private company.

"We have never been comfortable with the previous set up that was there," Bradley said. "The public, I think, agrees that the province of Ontario should own the roads in the province of Ontario."

The announcement comes shortly before a byelection in the provincial riding of Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock where PC Leader John Tory is seeking a seat.

Former Conservative MPP Laurie Scott, who stepped aside to let Tory run, had long called for the 407 extension.

TIMING POLITICAL?

Bradley said it was important to release the information before a final round of sessions for members of the public participating in the highway environmental assessment process.

Bradley rejected the suggestion the timing might be more political in nature -- evidence of Liberal largesse prior to an important byelection.

"People will always see it that way -- it's not that way at all," Bradley said.

Tory said the Dalton McGuinty government has done little to push this project through until now.

"Our party has been calling for the expansion of Highway 407 since 2006," Tory said in a release. "This has never been a priority for the McGuinty Liberals. Why, with a byelection pending, are they now so keen to help this region?"

The tolls recouped from motorists will pay for the highway extension, and there is no plan in place to let drivers use that stretch for free.

Although yesterday's federal budget is expected to put infrastructure dollars into the province, those funds are earmarked for other projects, Bradley said. "It does allow funding to be freed up for such things as transit projects."

The government hopes to have the highway available to motorists in 2013.

There are no plans to buy back the privately controlled section of the highway, known as 407 ETR, Bradley said.