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CTV News
3 days ago
- Business
- CTV News
Ontario wants to study building a 401 tunnel but one expert says there's a much simpler fix than that
Doug Ford's government plans to study the idea of digging a tunnel under Highway 401. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darren Calabrese + THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young (CTV News file photo). Ontario is studying the idea of digging a massive tunnel under Highway 401 but one economist says there's a much simpler and proven way to reduce gridlock in Toronto — charge drivers at peak road times. 'The only response to traffic congestion, by which there's really any evidence, is congestion pricing,' said Matthew Turner, a professor of economics at Brown University and former University of Toronto professor. 'The problem is not road capacity, it's road capacity at peak times.' Premier Doug Ford has promised to build a traffic tunnel spanning from Mississauga and Brampton in the west to Scarborough and Markham in the east, despite criticism from opposition leaders. A feasibility study on the idea is planned and the deadline for firms to participate in the formal Requests for Proposal process officially passed on Thursday. The government has previously said that the study won't be completed until 2027. But experts say no matter what the study finds, the fundamental problem isn't how many lanes exist — but rather when they are being used. 'You add capacity, it gets filled up': 'My first reaction is that Toronto needs more transportation capacity,' Turner said. 'This is probably a very expensive way to get it, that it'll take so long to build that it's not even relevant to talk about it.' Highway 401 Traffic on Highway 401 in Toronto passes under a COVID-19 sign on Monday April 6, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn (Frank Gunn/THE CANADIAN PRESS) Turner has studied urban congestion for decades and says building new roads or tunnels simply doesn't work if the goal is to reduce traffic jams. 'Los Angeles has been trying to build its way out of traffic congestion for 60 years,' he said, pointing to the Santa Monica Freeway as a prime example of a project that keeps expanding but delivers only temporary relief. 'What happens in Los Angeles is typical. You add capacity. It gets filled up. More people get to move around, but you still have problems with traffic congestion.' Ford backs tunnel while critics call it 'imaginary' Ford first floated the idea of a Highway 401 tunnel in September and made it part of his successful re-election campaign back in February. Earlier this month, Ford also asked Prime Minister Mark Carney to prioritize 'nation-building' projects including the tunnel idea. The feasibility study will include other options to increase the capacity of Highway 401 and review best practices from similar projects, including a four-lane tunnel in downtown Ottawa that was also the subject of feasibility study that pegged its cost at $2 billion. That project has never moved forward. 'The reason we're having a feasibility study is it's going to determine the length. If they're telling me, 30 kilometres is X, 40 kilometres is Y, and 70 kilometres or 60 kilometres is another cost, let's take a look at it,' Ford said of the Highway 401 tunnel back in September. 'But we're going to get the job done, mark my words.' The formal Requests for Proposals asks for the feasibility study to be completed by February 28,2027 and to examine a corridor that spans from east of Highway 410 in Mississauga to east of Scarborough. But experts say that while technically possible, the tunnel could cost billions of dollars and take decades to build. Opposition leader Marit Stiles has been extremely vocal dismissing the idea often referring to it as 'imaginary,' and a 'silly thought from a government that's run out of ideas.' 'His big priority is to get the feasibility study done on this silly tunnel under the 401, this imaginary tunnel,' she said last month. Meanwhile, Ontario Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie called the plan a fantasy that 'could bankrupt the province.' Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow was asked about the proposal during an interview with CP24 Breakfast on Thursday morning and seemed to suggest it is not a 'priority' for the city at this time. 'That is really up to Premier Ford and the federal government. I just know that I want public transit,' she said. 'In terms of priority infrastructure, the priority is still public transit, subway stations, the subway cars as well….' Does congestion pricing work? Here are the numbers While Ford remains confident on his big promise, some cities have already turned to congestion pricing — and seen significant results. Earlier this year, New York City began implementing a USD $9 congestion charge during peak hours south of Central Park. The result: a 7.5 per cent drop in traffic in the first week, or about 43,000 fewer vehicles entering the downtown core daily. Manhattan Tolls Signs advising drivers of congestion pricing tolls are displayed near the exit of the Lincoln Tunnel in New York, Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File) (Seth Wenig/AP) Turner says the evidence is overwhelming. 'If you are building more infrastructure with the idea that you're going to reduce traffic congestion, then there is an enormous amount of evidence that says that you're going to fail.' 'This infrastructure is so expensive, and it's so disruptive to build more, and people will fill it up if it's free.' Toronto, he says, already has the technical expertise to make pricing work. Why pricing the 401 is a hard sell Toronto has flirted with the idea before. In 2017, former Mayor John Tory proposed tolls for the Gardiner Expressway and Don Valley Parkway. But then-premier Kathleen Wynne shot it down, suggesting conditions were not right. Ontario, however, introduced legislation in 2024 that prohibits the introduction of any new tolls on provincial highways. Toronto is technically able to implement tolls on city-operated roads under the City of Toronto Act but the provincial government would be able to override it as it did in 2017. 'I think that the politicians want to build things, and congestion pricing is a hard sell, and so it's been really hard to implement,' Turner said. Today, the Ford government remains firmly opposed to tolls. In an email earlier this year, Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria's office said the government 'will never add a tax or toll to any road in Ontario,' citing their commitment to building infrastructure instead. Ontario's Minister of Transportation Prabmeet Sarkaria attend Question Period at the Ontario Legislature in Toronto, Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young Ontario's Minister of Transportation Prabmeet Sarkaria attend Question Period at the Ontario Legislature in Toronto, Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young Matthias Sweet, a congestion expert at Toronto Metropolitan University, said the refusal to consider tolls comes at a cost. 'Unless you take a policy like that, then you're basically saying traffic congestion is not as bad as the burden of potential solutions,' he said. Weighing the burden of Toronto traffic The Toronto Region Board of Trade estimates congestion costs the GTA $11 billion annually in lost productivity. A broader analysis by the Canadian Centre for Economic Analysis puts the cost to the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area at $47 billion when social and economic losses are included. But Turner cautions against thinking of megaprojects like the 401 tunnel as a fix. 'These things take forever, and they're really disruptive while they're being done,' he said, pointing to Boston's infamous 'Big Dig' project — a tunnel and highway reconstruction that took over 15 years to finish, cost of over $14.8 billion, and was plagued by costs, delays, leaks, and hundreds of millions in lawsuits. 'If you're interested in managing the use level on these things, the only way that we know how to do that is pricing,' Turner said, adding that 'nobody wants to hear that.' With files from CP24's Joshua Freeman and The Canadian Press...


CTV News
3 days ago
- Business
- CTV News
Ontario wants to study building a 401 tunnel, but one expert says there's a much simpler fix than that
Doug Ford's government plans to study the idea of digging a tunnel under Highway 401. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darren Calabrese + THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young (CTV News file photo). Ontario is studying the idea of digging a massive tunnel under Highway 401 but one economist says there's a much simpler and proven way to reduce gridlock in Toronto — charge drivers at peak road times. 'The only response to traffic congestion, by which there's really any evidence, is congestion pricing,' said Matthew Turner, a professor of economics at Brown University and former University of Toronto professor. 'The problem is not road capacity, it's road capacity at peak times.' Premier Doug Ford has promised to build a traffic tunnel spanning from Mississauga and Brampton in the west to Scarborough and Markham in the east, despite criticism from opposition leaders. A feasibility study on the idea is planned and the deadline for firms to participate in the formal Requests for Proposal process officially passed on Thursday. The government has previously said that the study won't be completed until 2027. But experts say no matter what the study finds, the fundamental problem isn't how many lanes exist — but rather when they are being used. 'You add capacity, it gets filled up': 'My first reaction is that Toronto needs more transportation capacity,' Turner said. 'This is probably a very expensive way to get it, that it'll take so long to build that it's not even relevant to talk about it.' Highway 401 Traffic on Highway 401 in Toronto passes under a COVID-19 sign on Monday April 6, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn (Frank Gunn/THE CANADIAN PRESS) Turner has studied urban congestion for decades and says building new roads or tunnels simply doesn't work if the goal is to reduce traffic jams. 'Los Angeles has been trying to build its way out of traffic congestion for 60 years,' he said, pointing to the Santa Monica Freeway as a prime example of a project that keeps expanding but delivers only temporary relief. 'What happens in Los Angeles is typical. You add capacity. It gets filled up. More people get to move around, but you still have problems with traffic congestion.' Ford backs tunnel while critics call it 'imaginary' Ford first floated the idea of a Highway 401 tunnel in September and made it part of his successful re-election campaign back in February. Earlier this month, Ford also asked Prime Minister Mark Carney to prioritize 'nation-building' projects including the tunnel idea. The feasibility study will include other options to increase the capacity of Highway 401 and review best practices from similar projects, including a four-lane tunnel in downtown Ottawa that was also the subject of feasibility study that pegged its cost at $2 billion. That project has never moved forward. 'The reason we're having a feasibility study is it's going to determine the length. If they're telling me, 30 kilometres is X, 40 kilometres is Y, and 70 kilometres or 60 kilometres is another cost, let's take a look at it,' Ford said of the Highway 401 tunnel back in September. 'But we're going to get the job done, mark my words.' The formal Requests for Proposals asks for the feasibility study to be completed by February 28,2027 and to examine a corridor that spans from east of Highway 410 in Mississauga to east of Scarborough. But experts say that while technically possible, the tunnel could cost billions of dollars and take decades to build. Opposition leader Marit Stiles has been extremely vocal dismissing the idea often referring to it as 'imaginary,' and a 'silly thought from a government that's run out of ideas.' 'His big priority is to get the feasibility study done on this silly tunnel under the 401, this imaginary tunnel,' she said last month. Meanwhile, Ontario Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie called the plan a fantasy that 'could bankrupt the province.' Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow was asked about the proposal during an interview with CP24 Breakfast on Thursday morning and seemed to suggest it is not a 'priority' for the city at this time. 'That is really up to Premier Ford and the federal government. I just know that I want public transit,' she said. 'In terms of priority infrastructure, the priority is still public transit, subway stations, the subway cars as well….' Does congestion pricing work? Here are the numbers While Ford remains confident on his big promise, some cities have already turned to congestion pricing — and seen significant results. Earlier this year, New York City began implementing a USD $9 congestion charge during peak hours south of Central Park. The result: a 7.5 per cent drop in traffic in the first week, or about 43,000 fewer vehicles entering the downtown core daily. Manhattan Tolls Signs advising drivers of congestion pricing tolls are displayed near the exit of the Lincoln Tunnel in New York, Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File) (Seth Wenig/AP) Turner says the evidence is overwhelming. 'If you are building more infrastructure with the idea that you're going to reduce traffic congestion, then there is an enormous amount of evidence that says that you're going to fail.' 'This infrastructure is so expensive, and it's so disruptive to build more, and people will fill it up if it's free.' Toronto, he says, already has the technical expertise to make pricing work. Why pricing the 401 is a hard sell Toronto has flirted with the idea before. In 2017, former Mayor John Tory proposed tolls for the Gardiner Expressway and Don Valley Parkway. But then-premier Kathleen Wynne shot it down, suggesting conditions were not right. Ontario, however, introduced legislation in 2024 that prohibits the introduction of any new tolls on provincial highways. Toronto is technically able to implement tolls on city-operated roads under the City of Toronto Act but the provincial government would be able to override it as it did in 2017. 'I think that the politicians want to build things, and congestion pricing is a hard sell, and so it's been really hard to implement,' Turner said. Today, the Ford government remains firmly opposed to tolls. In an email earlier this year, Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria's office said the government 'will never add a tax or toll to any road in Ontario,' citing their commitment to building infrastructure instead. Ontario's Minister of Transportation Prabmeet Sarkaria attend Question Period at the Ontario Legislature in Toronto, Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young Ontario's Minister of Transportation Prabmeet Sarkaria attend Question Period at the Ontario Legislature in Toronto, Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young Matthias Sweet, a congestion expert at Toronto Metropolitan University, said the refusal to consider tolls comes at a cost. 'Unless you take a policy like that, then you're basically saying traffic congestion is not as bad as the burden of potential solutions,' he said. Weighing the burden of Toronto traffic The Toronto Region Board of Trade estimates congestion costs the GTA $11 billion annually in lost productivity. A broader analysis by the Canadian Centre for Economic Analysis puts the cost to the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area at $47 billion when social and economic losses are included. But Turner cautions against thinking of megaprojects like the 401 tunnel as a fix. 'These things take forever, and they're really disruptive while they're being done,' he said, pointing to Boston's infamous 'Big Dig' project — a tunnel and highway reconstruction that took over 15 years to finish, cost of over $14.8 billion, and was plagued by costs, delays, leaks, and hundreds of millions in lawsuits. 'If you're interested in managing the use level on these things, the only way that we know how to do that is pricing,' Turner said, adding that 'nobody wants to hear that.' With files from CP24's Joshua Freeman and The Canadian Press...
Yahoo
19-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Travelodge U-turns after axing Black Sabbath fan's room booking and offering it at nearly £200 more
A Black Sabbath fan was left fuming after a hotel chain axed his Birmingham booking and readvertised the room for nearly £200 more. Matthew Turner paid £247 for two nights at what was the Campanile Hotel in Chester Street, Aston, before he had even secured tickets for the Birmingham band's last-ever gig at Villa Park on July 5. But then Travelodge took over the hotel and said it did not work with which the 31-year-old used to secure his room. READ MORE: Hotels hike prices by up to 725 per cent as Black Sabbath fans make travel plans An equivalent room at the same hotel on the dates Matthew booked was being advertised by Travelodge this week for £439.98. He said he was furious, having booked the room the day after the gig was announced on Wednesday, February 5, and faced a scramble to find a hotel, with the prospect of paying more than he expected to. He said: 'I and many others have had bookings cancelled without notice for Campanile in Aston ahead of the Black Sabbath show. 'I paid £247 for a stay from July 4 to 6. According to the hotel, it has been taken over by Travelodge which is charging double the price, for the same hotel, same room and same dates, just because it has slapped their branding on it. 'It is disgusting. I contacted them but I had a reply explaining why rooms went up in price and saying they could offer no gesture of goodwill or any discount to the original price I and other guests had paid.' READ MORE: 'I had to be there' says Canadian who spends £22k to visit Birmingham He said Travelodge had acted "disgracefully" in not honouring his booking. The marketing manager said: 'I booked the room within five minutes of the gig being announced and later managed to get a golden circle ticket for the gig . 'But I received an email on April 2 from to say the booking had been cancelled by Travelodge as it had taken over the Campanile. 'I've searched and there are four or five other people this has happened to who posted on Google reviews. 'Travelodge wants £439 for the same room for two nights on the same dates. 'I asked the Campanile directly and they were forthcoming with their reply. 'Anyone who booked with or third party sites seems to have had their booking cancelled. Anyone who booked direct, it seemed like they were honouring the bookings.' Matthew said he was a big Black Sabbath fan' and went to their last show in Birmingham in 2017. He said: 'I'd pay anything to see them but then make the saving on the hotel. I have never had a hotel cancel on me and point-blank refuse to honour the booking. 'Campanile just referred me to Travelodge to book. 'I'm very reluctant to rebook in terms of the experience I have had with customer service. 'They have not offered an apology. I have asked for this to be escalated to a senior manager.' Get the latest BirminghamLive news direct to your inbox Matthew said some prices in Birmingham had now reached £800 for two nights around the Sabbath gig date. He said: 'Everywhere else is pretty much sold out. 'I think the hotel should honour its bookings. It's a kick in the teeth. I booked this way ahead of time to get this deal.' Travelodge said it 'acquired Campanile Hotel in late March'. It initially said, as part of that process, all reservations were cancelled as 'we don't work with A spokeswoman for Travelodge originally said: 'We apologise for any inconvenience. All customers were advised by to rebook their stay with Travelodge directly. 'We always aim to remain as competitive as possible but prices may have changed due to demand, timing and availability.' But at the 11th hour and more than two weeks after saying the bookings were cancelled, the hotel giant has now had a change of heart and has said it will now honour those reservations 'subject to availability'. A spokesperson for the firm has now said: 'All customers who made third party bookings were advised to rebook their stay with Travelodge directly. 'Travelodge will honour the original price of these bookings, subject to availability. Affected customers should contact Travelodge Customer Support. 'We apologise for any inconvenience that has been caused.'

Associated Press
19-02-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
GGL Resources Corp. Highlights Key Projects and Plans for 2025
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESS Newswire / February 19, 2025 / GGL Resources Corp. (TSXV:GGL) ('GGL' or the 'Company') is pleased to provide investors an update on its two key assets; the McConnell copper-gold project in northern BC, and the Gold Point gold project in Nevada. News Release Highlights: Copper-gold porphyry targets identified at the McConnell Project and adjacent to a 12 km long shear hosted gold zone, Toodoggone District, BC The consolidated, past-producing Gold Point Camp in Nevada's Walker Lane hosts strongly oxidized, high-grade and bulk-tonnage gold targets. CEO Statement 'We are very pleased to highlight GGL's flagship projects, located in two of the most prominent exploration districts in North America' stated Matthew Turner, GGL's Interim CEO. 'McConnell brings a potential copper-gold discovery in BC's Toodoggone District near Amarc Resources Ltd.'s new Aurora porphyry discovery, while Gold Point hosts oxide gold targets near a major highway and close to Anglo-Ashanti's Silicon Discovery. GGL intends to advance both projects in 2025.' McConnell Project The 100% owned, road accessible and permitted McConnell Project is located in the Toodoggone mining district of northern BC, approximately 20 km southeast of the past producing Kemess copper porphyry deposit. The project is also on-trend with Amarc Resources Ltd.'s ('Amarc') new Aurora discovery made on its Joy project that Amarc is exploring with Freeport-McMoRan. Other on-trend past producers include the Shasta, Bakers and Lawyers high-grade gold mines which are currently being reevaluated for copper-gold porphyry potential. The McConnell Project currently covers over 70 km2 while core areas of the project have been held continuously by GGL since 1981 and have seen little exploration in the last 30 years. Historical exploration focused on the eastern part of the property, outlining a 9 km x 300 m wide zone of shear hosted mesothermal (orogenic) gold mineralization. The strong correlation between the mineralized quartz veins and a ground VLF-EM survey indicates the zone continues under cover for a total of 12 km. Past drilling by GGL returned multiple one-meter intervals of 10 - 15 g/t Au. Trenching has returned 7 - 8 g/t Au over 2 - 5 m. The majority of the work here was conducted in the 80s. There has been no drilling or trenching on the gold zone since 2008. In recent years GGL shifted exploration efforts to the western portion of the property which contains an under-evaluated copper-gold porphyry target. Potassic altered monzonite has been identified in several surface workings dating back to the 1960s and 70s. Surface samples collected by GGL have returned values ranging from 0.5 - 20% Cu and 1 - 2 g/t Au. Similar to recent discoveries in the district, this area of the project has limited outcrop exposures. However, where exposed the copper-gold mineralization can be found across at least 500 m. A reconnaissance induced polarization (IP) survey conducted in 2008 revealed a yet untested buried chargeability anomaly. Age dating of the intrusion returned a date of 201.4 Ma + 6.4 Ma (LA-ICP-MS on zircon) placing it within the date range of calc-alkalic Cu-Au porphyries of the region (Mihalasky, 2013). In light of recent significant discoveries in the area, the under evaluated Cu-Au porphyry target at McConnell warrants further advancement. The recent surge in gold prices warrants additional work at McConnell's high-grade gold zone to refine the geologic controls and to model the potential of either a bulk-tonnage or moderate-size high-grade resource. A technical slide deck of the McConnell Project can be found on the GGL website. Gold Point The permitted and road accessible Gold Point Project is located 26 miles south of Goldfield, Nevada, and covers several historical mine sites that intermittently produced high-grade gold and silver between 1882 and 1962. GGL has spent the last several years consolidating this camp-scale gold district with the land package currently totaling approximately 7,400 acres. The project now covers five significant former mines (Orleans, Great Western, Lime Point, Cook, Grand Central) plus numerous smaller workings totaling at least 17 known to date. Gold is hosted in vein-faults that generally trend WNW-ESE and are exposed over a 1,600 m x 2,200 m area before being obscured by alluvial cover in three directions. Gold mineralization occurs along the veins with higher grades occurring as shoots at structural intersections. Some examples of higher grades collected underground by GGL at the Orleans Mine are 61.8 g/t Au over 1.38m, 27.7 g/t over 1.68m and 21.4 g/t Au over 1.22m on the 300-, 150-, and 800-foot levels respectively. The underground workings are developed to a maximum vertical depth of 750 ft at the Orleans where the workings are dry and mineralization displays varying degrees of oxidation. GGL is in the planning stages for exploration work at Gold Point during 2025. The focus of this work will be to evaluate the untested on-strike potential of this camp-scale gold rich vein corridor. The potential exists for additional high-grade discoveries and/or the ability to define a near-surface bulk tonnage target. Efforts will also be directed to further evaluate the high-grade un-mined material accessible from developed levels of all the mines as well as to test the system to depth beyond the historical mine workings. On September 25, 2024, GGL announced the option of claims covering the Le Champ copper-molybdenum-gold porphyry target at Gold Point to Teck American Incorporated, a subsidiary of a leading Canadian resource company, Teck Resources Limited. Qualified Person Technical information in this news release pertaining to the McConnell Project has been reviewed and approved by David Kelsch, President of GGL Resources Corp., a qualified person for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101. Technical information in this news release pertaining to the Gold Point Project has been reviewed and approved by Matthew R. Dumala, a geological engineer with Archer, Cathro & Associates (1981) Limited and a qualified person for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101. About GGL Resources Corp. GGL is a seasoned, Canadian-based junior exploration company, focused on the exploration and advancement of under evaluated mineral assets in politically stable, mining friendly jurisdictions. The Company has optioned and wholly owned claims in the Gold Point district of the prolific Walker Lane Trend, Nevada. The Gold Point claims cover several gold-silver veins, five of which host past producing high-grade mines, as well as an exciting new porphyry target which is currently under option to Teck American Incorporated. The Company also owns the McConnell Project, which hosts mesothermal gold veins and an under explored porphyry copper-gold prospect in the Kemess District of north-central British Colombia. GGL also holds diamond royalties on mineral leases adjacent to the Gahcho Kué diamond mine and southwest of the Ekati diamond mine in the Northwest Territories. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD 'Matthew Turner' Matthew Turner Director and Interim CEO For further information concerning GGL Resources Corp. or its various exploration projects please visit our website at or contact: Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Information contained in this news release contains forward-looking statements. These statements reflect management's current estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations; they are not guarantees of future performance. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "(re-)evaluate', 'under-evaluated', 'potential', 'deeply', 'on-trend', 'strong', 'significant' and similar expressions, or that events or conditions 'may', 'could' or 'will' occur. GGL cautions that all forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain, and that actual performance may be affected by a number of material factors, many of which are beyond the control of GGL. Such factors include, among other things: risks and uncertainties relating to exploration and development and the results thereof, including the results of the recently completed drill program, the impact on future mineral resource estimates, the potential for new discoveries, and the results of future metallurgical programs, as well as the ability of GGL to obtain additional financing, the need to comply with environmental and governmental regulations, fluctuations in the prices of commodities, operating hazards and risks, competition and other risks and uncertainties, including those described in GGL's financial statements available under the GGL profile at Accordingly, actual and future events, conditions and results may differ materially from the estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations expressed or implied in the forward-looking information. Except as required under applicable securities legislation, GGL undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking information.