Subject: Bill 5 PLEASE DO…

Subject: Bill 5

PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE the environmental assessment requirements for the York1 waste disposal site project through the proposed Protect Ontario by Unleashing our Economy Act, 2025.

I am writing to you today from my home in Dresden Ontario. A small farming community in South Western Ontario. I know many of you will have no idea where it is as I didn't growing up in Toronto but it's where I ended up. This town is about to be destroyed by the implementing of Bill 5. You see Bill 5 will allow one of Premier Ford's donors to put a mega dump 500 meters, yes less than one half of a kilometer on the outskirts of our town. Allowing this bill to pass will take away the Environmental Assessment required to determine if they piece of property is suitable for a dump. I am not sure how any property this close to a town and 20km away from a major HWY can be a suitable locations for a dump.
Let me tell you how we got here. Sixty years ago Dresden burned their garbage like many small communities. The ash created had to be stored somewhere close by so they found this piece of land backing on to a creek that feed the Sydenham river to place the fly ash as they called it. Well they stopped burning garbage 50 years ago cleaned up the property which was then turned into a tile yard and then into a yard that turned wood into mulch for gardeners. Well that closed down abut 15 years ago but the zoning on the property had never changed from the time they were storing the fly ash. Along comes York1 who searched the records all over Ontario looking for properties carrying a zoning suitable for a dump. They found our old storage site and because of Zoning bought the property to build their mega dump. This was all done quietly without the knowledge of the towns folks until someone stumbled upon a request in an ERO about a year ago. No one could believe that anyone in Government would allow them to build a dump this close to town, this far away from a HWY, this close to a Creek and River with endangered species. I guess we were just a little naive. Now we fought tooth and nail to stop the dump or at least to get a Environmental Assessment so any issues with the property would be brought to light. We won that fight 6 months ago only to have Premier Ford bring in Bill 5 to circumvent the rules and allow the dump to move forward with reckless abandon.
So here we are fighting again against Queens Park in a place where no one knows who we are or where we are. We are out of sight of Toronto so in a lot of cases out of mind. Thanks to Queens Park there are many dumps down here in SW Ontario, there is one in Blenheim, one in Ridgetown, one in Petrolia and one in London so why not one more in Dresden. This dump will be a town killer. The town has been here since 1849, is the home to Uncle Tom's Cabin and is a farming community that feeds Ontario. They want to move 700 truck per day through this town to their dump. These road are used by many school buses like all rural communities and lots of farm equipment. This a disaster waiting to happen. I am asking all of you, every MP in Ontario to consider what will happen in this community if this Bill is put into law and York1 is allowed to build a dump on the edge of a town with no rules, no concern for the environment or the health of the community they are on top of.
I appreciate you taking the time to consider our situation and if you have any questions please feel free to ask. You are welcome to view our facebook page "Say No to the Dresden Dump"