Leave the existing ORMCP…

Leave the existing ORMCP intact because the ORM provides essential ecological services, in terms of water and flood control (wetland services) and oxygen production/CO2 sequestration due to the presence of forests. Did you notice the two letters, CP, stand for conservation plan? The adjective form of that noun is conservative, so when is this government going to start practicing conservation? You know ... conserve, conservative, conservation. Look up the meanings of those words.

Ontario is barging ahead with ideas that will soon produce a predictable future of “hell and high water” if it continues to ignore climate change. Climate change is here!

It is time for this Conservative government to start listening to citizens and municipalities who are having this bill shoved down their throats in the complete absence of public consultation, while it reflects the unique self-interests of the five-point plan pre pared by Ontario Home Builders and the Building and Lands Development Association: https://www.bildgta.ca/ Assets/misc/fivepointplan.pdf

Enough of gagging the public! There is an old saying: “No taxation without representation”, and this government refuses to consult citizens/taxpayers who are handed all their bills.

Taxes are what citizens pay to have in a civilized society, but this Conservative government seems to have turned into a secretive network, intent upon backing the plans of its favourite corporate backers. There is already a 30-year supply of land for building in the GTA, but developers appear to want access to the entire province.

Meanwhile, there is a lull in the housing market, caused by necessary interest rate hikes to control irrational prices. The Association of Municipalities of Ontario explained: “Ontario had 100,000 housing starts in 2021, the highest in 30 years. However, some municipalities have seen a sharp decline in permit applications in 2022, due to factors such as higher interest rates and labour shortages.”

Such labour shortages are temporary fall-out from the pandemic’s hangover. Enough land has been set aside for housing.

There is no need for Bill 23. There is so much wrong with Bill 23 that I will only focus on a few areas, especially the urgent need to restore the powers of Conservation Authorities to manage watersheds on the basis of science. Conservation Authorities (CAs) have ben protecting watersheds to prevent flooding and erosion since the 1950s, following the devastation of Hurricane Hazel. Now, climate change has in creased the power of storms, as demonstrated in Barrie in 2021, followed by the next path of devastation from Uxbridge to Ottawa in May 2022.

Even the west and east coasts of Canada have been deluged and damaged by extremely powerful storms recently. As a result, more tax dollars are needed for evacuations followed by urgent repairs to infrastructure (a situation which demands paramount attention from the federal government. Who is responsible for assessing the landscape in terms of climate change?).

Instead of planning for this predictable future of more powerful enduring storms due to climate change, Ontario wants tear up conservation plans AND prevent municipalities from entering into agreements with conservation authorities to review planning applications, thereby guaranteeing more flood damage and erosion by government decree, while allowing exemptions from natural hazard permits for those municipalities where Planning Act approvals already exist.

In an act of total irresponsibility, this Conservative government intends to remove conservation of land and pollution from permit decisions. It also wants CAs to sell their lands for more housing … in flood plains, hazard zones, and protected areas. Finally, there is the planned freeze on development charges. Who is going to pay for all the water/sewage expansions, the expansion of the electrical distribution system, and roads, schools, parks, hospitals?

Minister Steve Clark pretends development charges are hidden away in municipal “slush funds,” instead of recognizing how these fees, supplemented to a large degree by our tax dollars, are used to pay down infrastructure debt that was recently identified in the 2022/23 ‘Costing Climate Change Impacts to Public Infrastructure: Transportation’ report of Ontario’s Financial Accountability Office (OFAO).

The OFAO notes: “Ontario’s municipal governments own $269 billion of the transportation infrastructure assets in scope (82%), while the provincial government owns $61 billion (18%).” The Financial Accountability Officer estimates it will cost $12.9-billion/year to maintain existing public transportation infrastructure until 2100.

This relates only to the cost of transportation, not sewage, water, etc., not new infrastructure related to new buildings. Now, heed the recent warning from the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) regarding climate risks. IBC stated: “the disclosure of natural hazard and climate risk is urgently needed in the Canadian housing market because of the increasing frequency and severity of natural disasters.”

IBC insists a Real Estate Climate Risk Score must be instituted across Canada by 2025, to indicate a property’s susceptibility to catastrophic loss based on known risk factors. The Index would form the basis for managing and reducing household, community and municipal climate risk. Craig Stewart, V.P., IBC Climate Change and Federal Issues, stated:

“We simply can’t wait until 2050 to be climate compatible in the housing sector. Immediate action must be taken to protect homeowners and communities, or catastrophic loss to homes and communities will continue to increase in se verity and cost, year after year.”

This Conservative government has gutted environmental policies and green energy plans to ensure building is cheaper for their developer friends. What an absolute abomination and disgrace! What an abdication of your public responsibility! We cannot pretend the federal and provincial governments exist in separate spheres in Ontario. Both levels must wake up to the realities of climate change, ensuring it is the absolute top priority for this nation now, instead of trying to breathe new life into a 1950s model for the economy of the 21st century. Ottawa’s plan for net zero by 2050 now appears too little too late. Yet, I fear the federal approach overlooks new damage that will likely be inflicted through ill-considered provincial planning changes now imposed by Doug Ford’s government.

Under this Conservative government, the glaring democratic and environmental deficits continue to widen in Ontario, revealing a total disconnect between the public and those who supposedly serve the public. That needs to be fixed. Now.