I'm a resident of Waterloo…

I'm a resident of Waterloo Region, and I'm troubled by parts of Schedule 11 in Bill 108, currently under consideration.

As with any realm of civic life that is administered municipally, local heritage issues and decisions should reside with local elected municipal councils in consultation with interested citizens and specially trained municipal staff. But Bill 108 proposes changes to this model that appear to undercut the ability of our municipal councils to act with authority around the heritage designation of identified places of significance.

Local Planning Appeal Tribunals are not accountable enough or informed enough to speak legitimately to the merits of a particular heritage designation.

Further, with a few notable exceptions, our built heritage in Ontario has been at risk in ways not seen for decades. The power of financial motivations has led us to favour development as a default, and has resulted in many losses to our built heritage that, with a different mindset, could have and should have been avoided.

We can facilitate needed development, and the construction of affordable housing, without unnecessarily jeopardizing our heritage buildings - the physical fabric of our history as a province.

The Ontario Heritage Act is mandated to make this possible. But enacting Schedule 11 of Bill 108 will undermine the very mandate and efficacy of the Act it proposes to amend.

Please consider this in your deliberations.

Thank you.