Highway 407 sold

The Tory government has sold highway 407 for $3.1 billion dollars.

The sale of the electronic toll road that runs just north of Toronto is being called the biggest privatization deal ever made in North America.

A Quebec-based engineering firm and a Spanish partner are paying more than $3 billion for the continent's longest electronic toll road. That's twice the amount the government invested in the highway - meaning the Tories have made a $1.5 billion dollar profit by privatizing a project started by Bob Rae's NDP government.

Originally the 407 was to pay for itself and become a free public highway in approximately 30 years. The Tory government passed a law allowing the government to sell it off.

The conditions of the sale allow the new owners to set whatever toll rates it wants for the next 99 years.