Please see attached letter…

Please see attached letter from the Peel Federation of Agriculture. I have included the body of the letter here, as this site does not seem to want to upload the file:

Peel Federation of Agriculture is the farm organization that represents over 350 registered farm businesses in Peel.

As the farm community is perhaps the largest stakeholder group to be impacted by the proposed Bill 66, Restoring Ontario’s Competitiveness Act, we have a vested interest on behalf of our membership to encourage a thoughtful and thought-provoking process.

There has been a lot of discussion about preserving the agricultural land basethrough planning initiatives like the Greenbelt. It does not mean that we should abandon sound logic. We have no way of predicting that agriculture will be sustainable regardless of any decision we make. The success or failure of the industry will be dictated by the marketplace and by the initiative of individual operators. We should also not assume that because we have a Greenbelt, that it will somehow make agriculture more viable.
If the objective behind Bill 66 is to fast track the development of employment lands in the province, we support the bill because of the simple fact that Employment lands within the Greenbelt support smaller rural communities, thereby contributing to agricultural sustainability. All too often, we have seen major employers frustrated with the red tape and time required to obtain approvals. The end result is that these employers relocate.
In some respects, Bill 66 will achieve similar results to a Ministerial Zoning Order. We definitely would like to see the lengthy delays in economic development due to governmental compliance.
What our Federation would like to see together with our Parent Federation, the Ontario Federation of Agriculture is:
• Use of the Provincial Policy Statement definitions and language in all Four Provincial Plans. A lack of consistency across all four Plans leads to confusion for businesses and subjective interpretation by many stakeholders that are involved in any process involving any of these Plans.
• We would also like transferring the oversight of the Niagara Escarpment Plan from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing . Business should not have to contact multiple ministries/government agencies for similar provincial plans.
• Targeting smaller communities for infrastructure and economic investments to distribute economic development, reduce congestion and growth pressures in the GTA. Growth pressures continue to make life unaffordable and challenging for the average resident.
• The current pattern of growth is unsustainable. The Province’s priorities to increase housing supply and affordability, create jobs, reduce red tape, attract new investments, and build strategic partnerships align exceptionally well with the Ontario Federation of Agriculture’s Producing Prosperity Plan.