July 31, 2020 RE: Proposed…

July 31, 2020

RE: Proposed Amendment 1 to A Place to Grow: Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe (‘A Place to Grow’, ‘the Plan’). It is recommended that Proposed Amendment 1 be read in conjunction with A Place to Grow. This proposal works in conjunction with a proposed new Land Needs Assessment Methodology, that is also currently posted on the Environmental Registry of Ontario at ERO number 019-1679: Proposed Land Needs Assessment Methodology for A Place to Grow: Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe.

Dear Premier Ford,

We applaud your handling of the COVID-19 pandemic thus far. Ontario has managed to flatten the curve thanks to the medical and scientific experts whose direction and enlightened advice you depended on throughout this ongoing crisis.

We are shocked as to why Bill 197, Ontario’s latest attempt to silence experts and the public, is quickly and quietly being passed without legislative or public hearings so the consequences can’t be discussed and debated.

Ramara Legacy Alliance is a group of concerned citizens who live in Ramara Township. A community with a heritage that spans more than 100 years. Many of our properties are within 80 meters of a blasting quarry.A quarry that has shaken our homes, threatened our environment, threatened where young children play with flyrock. For more than 30 years we have challenged the continued and irrelevant expansion of the Fleming quarry. Like you during the pandemic, we have counted on experts for sound, well-researched advice and guidance. We are fighting for our future generations while protecting the environment.

Like you during the pandemic, we have referred to experts for sound, well-researched advise and guidance. One such expert is a mining engineer with more than 45 years experience. He has shared a dire warning with the Profession Engineers of Ontario: ‘In brief, the current proposed initial blasting parameters have the potential to send flyrock 171m assuming all holes achieve the designed collar lengths of 2m. The report lists 16 homes closer than 171m all of which will be subject to the dangers of flyrock that is, damages to structures, injuries and possibly fatalities.’

A planning consultant with more than 20 years experience has offered the following concerns: I agree should the policy be included then there should be a requirement that for such operations to make an appropriate and related form of restitution for the habitat(s) of endangered species and/or threatened species being affected.
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Would you agree Premier Ford this is totally unacceptable? Our mining expert is one of several experts with whom we are currently working with to help protect our community from potential environmental and economic disaster?

Buried within the omnibus bill are changes to the Environmental Assessment Act which will bar experts from assessing the environmental impacts of many public infrastructure projects, and keep communities in the dark about what’s happening in their own backyards. This is a move that hugely compromises impartial, evidence-based decision making and could lead to long-term environmental damage when these projects are built. Ontario claims that such amendments are needed to fast track the public infrastructure projects that will help the province’s economy recover from the COVID-19 health crisis. We are having a hard time believing that..

While Ontario is removing environmental protections, governments around the world are choosing a cleaner and green economic recovery that creates jobs in renewable energy, natural infrastructure, building retrofits, habitat creation and restoration.

We are saying no to Bill 197 and we stand up for a sustainable, long-term economic recovery instead!

Premier Ford, please do the right thing and put communities before quarries.