Good afternoon Premier Ford,…

Good afternoon Premier Ford,

I was born, raised and am living in southern Ontario, in fact, raised on a very productive farm. My parents were born in 1916 and 1919 and throughout their lives they worried about the future of farming: availability of good farm land to grow the needed food for our communities and to share round the world. Our small farms are the backbone of the good, healthy life we live in Ontario.

The Green Belt needs to be protected or there will not be enough good farm land for the next generations. There are lots of places in the province, away from the Great Lakes region where there is clay and stone and more undesirable land. That's where you build housing, not on our rich clay loam and sandy loam soils.

Even the wind turbines that are to be part of our energy future, took big swaths of farmland out of production. The rhythm of these behemoths has even driven the worms from the soil. This taking of our good agricultural land in one way or another must stop. You, Premier need to be the person who saves our farming and food future, not the person who kills it.
The local people in each town and municipality know the needs of their citizens better than any outside source. They need to be consulted and they need to be part of the future of land development and land conservation. It is the right of every citizen of this province and of this country.

We also need to protect our heritage buildings. They won't be built again. They can be repurposed and all future generations can be amazed at the plain or ornate composition that the people of the past lived in and called home. There should not be a simple 2 year hold on these buildings as it takes time to find people who will steward the buildings and restore or redetermine their state of use. An owner need only give 60 days notice of demolition and the dreams of keeping our heritage buildings for the following generation is lost forever.

Heritage cemeteries are another area in danger of disappearing with Bill 23. It is a basic human right to have a safe and secure burial location. These sacred locations should never be disturbed, moved elsewhere or be built upon.

My family have lived in what became Ontario, since 1792. We are founding citizens and in my opinion, our rights to our land has never been more superseded, ignored and stripped away than with this Bill than in the days when we arrived, after the American Revolution, when we lost everything.

It is your duty as our elected head of the province to see that Bill 23 is very wrong and damaging in many ways. I respectfully ask that you remove this Bill from becoming law immediately.