Renaming Highway 400 after Gordon Lightfoot involves a long ‘process’

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Carefree Highway, you’re facing a long road ahead.

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More specifically, the change.org petition to change the name of Hwy. 400 to the Gordon Lightfoot Memorial Highway, currently has more than 19,000 signatures. But those in favour of renaming the highway — which heads from Toronto past Gordon Lighfoot’s birthplace in Orillia — face a lengthy process.

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The petition was started on March 4, 2024 by Douglas Walkinshaw, who, while a few years younger than the musical icon, went to high school with Lightfoot at the now torn-down Orillia District Collegiate and Vocational Institute.

Lightfoot died at the age of 84 last May 1 of natural causes.

“My thinking is the 400 leads up to Orillia, leads up to Parry Sound, and Georgian Bay, too,” said Walkinshaw, 82, an engineer who now lives in Ottawa.

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“He lived all his life in Toronto, so people are thinking that from Toronto and Hamilton; they have to head up 400 to get to Orillia, to get to Georgian Bay. He loved Georgian Bay, by the way, and wrote many songs there. So I think 400 is the appropriate one.”

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Walkinshaw has been given some guidance from Ontario’s transportation ministry “on what’s involved in the highway dedication process” but when asked, government officials didn’t provide a statement on what the province thinks of the idea or how likely it is to happen.

“I took it to the ministry right after he died,” said Walkinshaw. “And they said, ‘Well, we have a process. You have to go to every urban centre along the highway and get them to support it, and you have to get any First Nations groups along the highway to support it. And then if you get them all supporting it, and we agree to it, then you’ll have to find any signage etc.’ And I thought, ‘Well, that would be perfect for naming a back lane after your great uncle,’ where you’re not talking about all of these municipalities along the way. Ontario needs a better process. It’s a problem.”

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Lightfoot’s legacy — he penned over 425 songs — is already being remembered musically.

The Lightfoot Band with their newest member, lead singer and rhythm guitarist Andy Mauck, has been touring since January and will be the house band, along with Blue Rodeo, at a memorial concert on May 23 at a Massey Hall called Celebrating Gordon Lightfoot.

So far Burton Cummings, Sylvia Tyson, Tom Cochrane, City and Colour, Kathleen Edwards, and Serena Ryder, are among those confirmed to perform.

Walkinshaw said he plans on submitting a request for action on Monday to Premier Doug Ford.

“I’m just doing it because I think it’s good for Ontario and Canada and the world to keep his music alive,” he said.

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