WE do not need Bill 66…

WE do not need Bill 66 Schedule 10 in Northumberland County. Our riding's biggest industry and employer is agriculture and our farmers' greatest fear is urban sprawl, be it residential or manufacturing. Our wells and farms depend on sufficient clean water and the Oak Ridges Moraine is the source of much of our water. Lake Ontario is our other source. We require the protections of the Clean Water Act, the Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Act, The Great Lakes Protection Act, the Greenbelt Act and the oversight and proper land use controls of the Planning Act and ALL the other laws some people in this government want to render impotent so developers do not have to comply with laws that protect our water, land, natural heritage systems. Schedule 10 is not acceptable and goes way too far if its intended purpose is to cut red tape to get developments rushed through. Our unemployment rate is 5.1 percent, lower than the national average. We do not need nor want to ignore the laws that protect us and our right to notice of pending legislation and the right to be consulted on pending bylaws and the other protections granted in Ontario's Environmental Bill of Rights. Further, most of Ontario's municipalities have passed Blue Dot declarations and have promised their citizens the right to a healthy environment; clean water , air and soil and the right to participate in decisions they make that affect the environment.
Sch.10 is going in the wrong direction from what Ontarians need to met our greenhouse gas emissions targets and to effectively respond to climate change. This government cannot ignore evidence-based growth management and allow adverse and potentially irreversible actions like paving over and building on our precious farmland and forests. Municipalities do not want the power envisioned by this bill.Municipalities have official plans, zoning bylaws and site plan approval processes for good reason including their due diligence. (These comments are based on Carolyn Kim's blog of Dec.13, /18 from the Pembina Institute.) Please scrap Sch.10 of Bill 66.