Regarding the environment,…

Regarding the environment, there are two initiatives that really must be considered - one relating to protection of the Greenbelt, and the other relating to development approvals, specifically filing Records of Site Condition through the Ministry of the Environment. The first one is obvious - the Greenbelt was set up for very good reasons and there is no argument for allowing any developments that would compromise any part of it. It protects our forests, wetlands and water supply from pollution.

Regarding the Records of Site Condition - this process has become very onerous and does disservice to our developers - it can take upwards of 4 to 6 months on average to get approval. The process is snarled by Utopian requirements by ministry hydrogeologists, such as the need to identify and delineate impacts from road salt used for de-icing and to actually compel proponents to remediate sites for such impacts to meet the Ontario standards for soils and groundwater. Just imagine - road salt - which would still be deployed at a new development site during winters, is being considered a contaminant, whereas public roadways are excluded from this consideration by exemption under the Highway and Traffic Act. In other words, one set of rules for private landowners and another for the public. Your OPen For Business initiative is commendable, but it must reign in the MECP from overreach and strict control and power over development they now have, which is resulting in unreasonable delays and costs to developers and hampering residential developments which in turn affects housing prices and rentals.