As a resident of Erin,…

As a resident of Erin, Ontario, I am concerned at what I perceive as a growing shift to the political right on all things environmental. My comments to the 'WWF Species-at-risk habitat shouldn’t be open for business!" can be related to the Provincial Government's February 20, 2019 News Release entitled "Ontario’s Government for the People Hosting Summit on Aggregate Reform" from John Yakabuski, Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry. (https://news.ontario.ca/mnr/en/2019/02/ontario-committed-to-promoting-e…)

My comments from this news release is as follows: (sentences in quotation are direct excerpts from the News Release )

1. "Ontario's Government for the People wants to hear directly from industry leaders on how the province can cut red tape, create jobs and promote economic growth within the aggregate industry".
- "Government for the People" - shouldn't the Government always be "for the people, by the people"?
- "Ontario Government's Summit on Aggregate Reform on March 29, 2019, to gather feedback from major industry stakeholders" but blatantly absent is the feedback from affected residents.
-The previous government had been working on ‘modernizing’ the Aggregate Resources Act RSO 1990 (May 9, 2017 - Ontario passed legislation today that will modernize the province's resource ... https://news.ontario.ca/mnr/en/2017/05/ontario-passes-legislation-to-mo… ). Quite sure the industry has already submitted comments to the MNRF.

2."Our government is committed to creating the conditions that will help unleash the resource sector's potential. We want to work with industry leaders on how we can tear down barriers to create an environment for growth and a sustainable resource sector."
-The terms "unleash" and "tear down barriers" will likely result in aggregate anarchy; more dust, more noise, more truck traffic, and further relaxed operating conditions within the Aggregate Resources Act. Local aggregate pits in and around Erin are required to protect the activities of the Barn Swallow, Bobolink and Eastern Meadowlark, as per the Endangered Species Act (ESA), will this government roll back these protective measures as well?

3. "Ontario's aggregate industry contributes almost $1.4 billion to Ontario's economy and supports almost 20,000 direct and indirect jobs. Aggregates ….. create high-quality, well-paying jobs,"
- a quick Google search shows about 6 million fulltime jobs and a GDP of some $850 Billion for our province. The aggregate business represent a mere 0.34% of the work force and less than 0.20% of the GDP.
- the aggregate jobs, primarily truck drivers, would not constitute " high quality, well paying jobs".

Aggregate mining will continue to have a direct affect on our environment, our landscape and our endangered species, especially that aggregate mining is permitted within the Green Belt. With the already understaffed MNRF coupled with the self-regulated aggregate Industry, relaxing the rules is regressive and somewhat short sighted when it comes to building our future roads, schools, hospitals and bridges.

I think we can do better!