My family immigrated to…

My family immigrated to Ontario in 1953 from England. Within a year (October 1954) Toronto and surrounding area was hit by one of the worst storms in our history, Hurricane Hazel.

I was ten years old and vividly remember the storm. The destruction was enormous with people drowning because they had been allowed to build close to rivers and streams, because there was little or no regulation.

We learned from Hurricane Hazel. Conservation Authoraties were created or strengthened. New rules and controls were put in place to stop developers from building on flood plains and wetlands, and destroying sensitive woodlands. Many of our environmental Acts are a direct result of the destructive power of Hurricane Hazel.

With your proposed Bill 66, your government is going to allow Ontario municipalities to override our current environmental acts. This allow the southern Ontario development community to build housing or industry wherever they wish if they are employing more than fifty workers, easily done in a housing subdivision. Your proposal also allows employers to reduce wages and drop overtime pay, allows daycares to run with less daycare staff, and allow corporations to run long term facilities without experience and with less oversight. Your destructive omnibus bill goes on and on.

In regards to the possible negation of our environmental acts, I have in my lifetime (I am 75 years young) watched the destruction of arable land, the bulldozing of ancient oaks and mature maples, and the backfilling of marshes and streams. This was done to create asphalt communities for the middle and upper classes. Developers never even had the decency to construct housing for families with very low incomes.

Happily, in the past two or three decades, new acts and regulations were passed to slow down the ruin of our province. We now have some protection. With this proposed Bill 66, your government is quite willing to, again, allow developers to swarm over environmentally sensitive land.

I know the municipalities will be able to opt out if their Councils chose. Some have already done so! Unfortunately, some Councils will be tempted by the lure of property tax dollars, development fees, and provincial money fir the willing. In the end, your legislation will cause so much damage to Ontario and Ontarians that this will far outweigh benefits to large and wealthy companies.

If your government really cares about Ontarians, do not pass this bill.