We grew up in Toronto and…

We grew up in Toronto and are dismayed to see the unbridled growth of the area surrounding it. Farmland has made way for housing developments. Accessing clean water has become a problem due to overusage by bottling companies and by unbridled development. What’s next? Well, obviously - and unfortunately - the Green Belt! Too much red tape to do business in Ontario? So how do you plan to reduce it? By having developers deal with local municipalities, who don’t have a lot of staff on hand to investigate the pros and cons of development... For local municipalities the “cons” don’t usually come into consideration. It’s only the added tax benefits and economic advantages that are important to them. Developers are always ready to hand out money and gifts to those, who make their life easier. A friend, who intended to run for a councillor position in the North Toronto area, was approached by developers with promises of “gifts”, as soon as he submitted his name. Undoubtedly Mr. Ford has also been approached by these “generous” developers. Is this the type of government we want?

We are disgusted that the opening of the Green Belt is even on the table. Why do we need housing developments nonstop from Hamilton to Pickering and then north to Barrie? We feel it would be disastrous to move the decision-making to the local council level for reasons mentioned above.

It is our emphatic opinion that you remove Schedule 10 from Bill 66, which allows municipalities to override provisions in the Greenbelt Act, Clean Water Act, Lake Simcoe Act, Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Act and Great Lakes Protection Act. How shameful that something so healthy, so clean, so environmentally beautiful should be in any way diminished!

Sincerely

Dr. Erle Kirby and Mrs. Susan Kirby