There are several parts of…

There are several parts of Bill 162 that concern me and are very short-sighted:

- Schedule 1 - Environmental Assessment Act changes to make it easier to expropriate land for new highways and developments,
- Schedule 3 - Official Plan Adjustment Act that forces urban sprawl onto farmland and compromises Official Plans,
- Schedule 5 - Protecting Against Carbon Taxes Act the prevents future carbon pricing in Ontario,

I don't like that these sections will mean that land can be expropriate before an environmental assessment can be done, which weakens the integrity of both of those processes (expropriation and environmental assessment). And we need to take environmental assessments seriously to protect our land and water and ecosystems in the face of climate change.

I don't like that these sections will lead to a loss of farmland and greenspace in Ontario - both of which are important - critical - to our survival in the decades to come as we face the effects of climate change.

I don't like that they place an obstacle for future carbon pricing programs - the government and other regulatory bodies must be allowed to create policies and programs that will work towards addressing the impacts of climate change and limit it in the years to come.

Further, I am a resident in the Region of Waterloo, and I know that a Region of Waterloo Hydrology Staff Report that Kitchener Mayor Berry Vrbanovic, five Waterloo Region Mayors and numerous developers tried to prevent the province from seeing by doing everything they could last week at Regional Council to prevent it being submitted to this Bill 162 ERO. The report expresses concerns about future water supply by urban boundaries being forced open and development being permitted on groundwater recharge areas of the Waterloo Moraine. This is very concerning to me and my family. The report included the following highlights:

Report Highlights:
 The Waterloo Moraine is the primary source for groundwater recharge in Waterloo
Region. The moraine is protected in the Region Official Plan (ROP), Policy 7.B.23,
with Regional Recharge Area designation which restricts development on the
moraine. Protection of the moraine is essential for the quantity of water supply and
the quality of the water.
 Ontario uses a multi-barrier approach to protecting drinking water safety which
includes source protection. This is intended to keep the raw water as clean as
possible to lower the risk that contaminants will get through or overwhelm the
treatment system.
 At least 75% of Waterloo Region’s drinking water is primarily drawn from
groundwater through water supply wells. Groundwater wells in the Kitchener and
March 20, 2024 Report: EES-WAS-24-001
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Waterloo area are almost exclusively drawn from aquifers of the Waterloo
Moraine.
 On February 20, 2024, in response to consultation undertaken by the Province in
late 2023, the Province introduced Bill 162 (Get it Done Act, 2024). Bill 162
proposes modifications to the Regional Official Plan (ROP). Based on a
preliminary review of the mapping associated with Bill 162, the modifications
include adding an expansion to the Urban Area beyond the Countryside Line and
onto the Regional Recharge Area in Southwest Kitchener.
 If development happens in the Regional Recharge area, there will be less water
available to shallow and deep municipal supply aquifers of the Waterloo Moraine.
This threatens the sustainability of drinking water supply to current and future
residents in the cities of Cambridge, Kitchener and Waterloo, and the Townships
of North Dumfries, Wellesley, Wilmot, and Woolwich.
 Reduced recharge will restrict the Region’s ability to maintain and enhance
capacity of the Region’s water supplies. This could lead to a reduced amount of
water supply to support future homes. Development could also degrade water
quality at urban well fields due to road salt application, which could result in the
loss of available urban water supplies, further restricting growth.
 Reduced and lost water supplies resulting from land use decisions will significantly
impact the building of new homes as the quantity of water available to service new
development may impact the ability of the area municipalities to meet housing
targets in the Region as water supply capacity may be considerably reduced. In
addition, it could accelerate the need for a pipeline connection to Lake Erie.

For these many reasons, Bill 162 is very concerning to me. We need to do so much more to protect our watersheds and groundwater supplies, our farmland, and our greenspaces - not remove protections that will allow them to be destroyed. As our climate continues to warm we will only see greater and more significant impacts, and we are wasting precious time not putting more protections in place. We will regret many decisions we made, actions we did not take - no matter our politics - as our world burns and food and water resources dry up and we cannot look the younger generations in the eye as we destroy their future.