I am deeply concerned about…

I am deeply concerned about Bill 66 and its impact on the environment and the ordinary people of Ontario.

It opens up Ontario’s Greenbelt for factory, retail and residential development, undermines drinking water protection rules and guts rules that help industry reduce the release of toxic chemicals.

At its core, though it is labeled as a bill to improve economic development, it will take Ontario backwards and have major financial impacts on the Province in terms of environmental degradation, health care, and the provision of affordable foods grown relatively locally to its citizenry.

Bill 66 basically takes us back backwards as a province and, at the same time, gambles on our future while benefiting a small minority in the here and now. This is short sighted. We need a government who is going to look after its citizens now and balance that with future wellbeing.

If there is a need for efficiencies and ways to improve the way business is done in Ontario, this needs to be done with more than the next four years in mind, but rather the future in which our children and grand-children will live. If there is a need for these improvements, they need to be done with human beings in mind, not corporations. If there is a need for these improvements, the rights of workers must be kept front and centre, not squashed by legislation that removes union rights nor diminishes the ability of workers to have stability and proper compensation nor overburdens workers to the point of creating unsafe conditions for them or the people they serve.

There is a need for all amendments and changes to be based on peer-reviewed research, not ideology.

I do not support this bill as it stands.