As a member of a municipal…

Comment

As a member of a municipal council, I am strongly opposed to the use of Ministerial Zoning Orders. Why should one individual Minister have the power to make planning decisions at the provincial level without requiring public input via the regular zoning process? The municipal zoning policies were created for a reason: to allow for discussion and reasoned public decisions about the development and use of local land. In my municipality, the Minister issued an MZO without any public consultation or any discussion at Council. THIS IS OUTRAGEOUS AND UNACCEPTABLE. Where is the democracy in this type of decision-making, where we don't even pretend to consult the public and allow developers, who seem to have the ear of the Minister, to drive the process?

The attitude that developers and Ministers know what is best for the public because citizens can't possibly understand the complexities of a development project is absolutely wrong and insulting to the public. Those of us who have been elected to represent THE PUBLIC should never act so arrogantly, and yet here we are. Please end this egregious use of MZOs and return to our public zoning process.