I am writing to speak out…

I am writing to speak out against the Ontario government’s attempt to restrict adequate public consultation to Bill 23.

In my opinion this is an abuse of power because Bill 23:
*being tabled immediately after municipal elections reduced time for councils to respond
*dramatically reduced the power of conservation authorities to sustain healthy environmental habitats and to proactively regulate for climate emergencies
*eliminates established protections for groundwater protection, woodlands, wetlands and wildlife habitat, allowing environmental degradation
*diminishes the power of municipalities to establish green building standards. In reality, enforcing green building standards now can save thousands of dollars over the long term.
*disregards the researched based Regional Official Plans of several municipalities (Hamilton, Halton, Waterloo). The design of these ROPS serves to maintain current urban boundaries (eg. Countryside Line in Waterloo Region)and farmlands, and to provide for much more sustainable, equitable, future urban intensification. The people of Waterloo Region care deeply about our input into regional planning and saving the Greenbelt

Creating laws without allowing adequate public consultation contravenes our democratic rights. We have the right to seek a democratic resolution to critical issues confronting us. This characteristic of democracy protects us all. It is apparent to me that as the Ontario government pursues its agenda/goals, it is willing to create as many obstacles as possible to healthy, democratic public consultation and input.

We are in a climate emergency. At COP27 Antonio Guterres, United Nations secretary general, stated “We are on a highway to climate hell with our foot still on the accelerator,” Bill 23’s content takes Ontario in exactly the wrong to direction to respond effectively to the catastrophic impacts of climate change.

Bill 23 needs amendments to address all of the concerns listed above,