As an Ontarian who has…

As an Ontarian who has resided in various parts of the province, including the Kawartha Lakes area, Durham Region, and Niagara Region, I am vehemently against Bill 23 on all fronts. Firstly, it seeks to destroy precious wildlife and various diverse ecosystems such as wetlands and woodlands, by stripping the Conservation Authority of the ability to do their job. At a time when climate change action and wildlife conservation is at its most crucial to the preservation of the world, Bill 23 will launch the province into an environmental catastrophe. Altering the Planning Act so environmental protection is not longer a consideration is a massive step backward. People must learn to coexist with our surrounding ecosystems, not simply tear them down every time we are mildly inconvenienced. Housing can be built upward instead of outward.

This bill is also wildly undemocratic. You want to place more centralized power in the hands of greedy, profit-driven developers, and strip any and all influence from those who actually care about the long-term preservation of not only the environment, but also of society. Taking away the Conservation Authority’s rights is an issue for reasons discussed above, but taking the public’s right to engage with planning decisions regarding development that will directly impact their neighbourhoods is an absolute undermining of democracy. As a political science student who is aspiring to one day work in the world of government and politics in this Ontario, I am disgusted at the complete overhaul of democratic rights that accompanies this bill.

Not only that, but the elimination of conservation authorities in the planning process will also make several jobs in that sector obsolete, which will result in the loss of many jobs. The goal of this bill is to provide a better life for Ontarians and make living more affordable, but it will strip many people of their livelihoods. So, where is the more affordable life for conservation and planning workers when you take their jobs away? I know a few of these workers, and they are currently supporting children, or just scraping by on the salaries that they have, and this bill has a strong potential to leave them with nothing.

Please rethink the implementation of Bill 23. It is short-sighted and has severe consequences, even outside of the environmental impacts it will have. Ontarians deserve to have affordable housing without the destruction of their environment and their livelihoods as hard-working people.