We are writing you as long…

We are writing you as long-time residents of the Provincial riding of York-Simcoe. We are very concerned about Bill 66 proposed by your Government that would give municipalities the power to override important natural heritage, environmental and health and safety existing legislation that your government wrongly sees as impeding economic development, in support of jobs through a purported “open for business planning bylaw”.
From our review most of the legislation you are proposing to roll back, such as the Clean Water Act (adopted after the Walkerton tragedy), The Greenbelt Act, the Lake Simcoe Protection Act, Oak Ridges Moraine Act, Places to Grow Act (Growth Plan), etc. is ill-conceived. The wide-ranging Omnibus nature of this legislation is truly concerning and obviously lacks balance and a full understanding of real planning implications. This proposed Bill would allow municipalities to pass a by-law to place employment uses and secondary uses such as residential and commercial anywhere in Ontario without conforming to these important Acts, and indeed contravene their recent existing Official Plans and Secondary Plans arrived at through extensive local community consultation and good planning process. We strongly disagree with this. As small business people in the arts and community organizations, and active in social, cultural and natural heritage organizations in our municipality we urge you to immediately abandon this legislation. We will actively be working with our neighbours and family to advise local municipalities not to use Bill 66, should it be passed.
With this Bill 66 employment uses could be built anywhere in the province without following a public planning process. This is poor planning. Our research, and our own knowledge of our local area and municipality confirm that there is an excess of economic development land here, and in cities across the Greater Golden Horseshoe.
Sincerely,