I have grave concerns about…

I have grave concerns about Schedule 10 and quest it is abandoned or withdrawn. It is outrageous that no public notice is required by a municipality before passing an open for business planning bylaw, which I will call it OFB, nor is it open for public input or subject to appeal. Ontario is a democracy and the lack of democratic process is unacceptable. We expect and require openess and transparency at all levels of government and find it intolerable that this government wants to pass this.

As far as all the important laws that this bill says will not apply to an OFB bylaw, those laws were passed for good reasons and most of them have been used to protect our farm land for agricultural uses, our natural heritage systems for wildlife and biodiversity as well as our quality of life, and our Oak Ridges Moraine for our water sources, our homes and our wildlife. We do not want to lose any of these protections nor the necessary protections of the Clean Water Act, for any reason. And we surely do not want to lose out to developers. This government knows there is plenty of employment lands available and plenty of residential lands available without encroaching on our Greenbelt and Oak Ridges Moraine.
This government cannot exclude s.39 of the Clean Waters Act as we do not want a recurrence of the Walkerton tragedy.We don't want our water sources contaminated with industrial waste, sewerage, solvents and fuel. Nor do we want our wells contaminated .
Our unemployment rate in Northumberland County is 5.1 percent. We don't want to give away all we need and hold dear to get businesses here. Just this week a local bakery is expanding in Cobourg Industrial park and hiring 50 new employees and we didn't need to give up anything for that. We are always open for business without throwing out the protections our laws provide.
Official plans and the provincial policy statement have been developed over decades of zoning bylaws and proper planning decisions made by councils and staff and relevant to the needs of our local communities. They should not be ignored by those who want to set up shop here. Evidence- based growth management is important and should be followed by everyone including developers. Municipalities do not want developers who can ignore their planning requirements.

The audacity of adding "any prescribed provision..." would allow the minister or cabinet to add more DO Not Apply laws to OFB areas without the opportunity for public scrutiny . This is not acceptable , this is all going too far, it's regressive, not justified and unwarranted.
We don't want a patch work of municipal policies. What happens in the air, land and water in one municipality affects the others nearby.

These developments are potentially irreversible and put our land and homes and our health and safety at risk. A municipality cannot do its due diligence when these laws don't apply.

Please abandon Bill 66 Schedule 10.