Bill C-66, Removing Schedule…

Bill C-66, Removing Schedule 10

It was over a considerable number of years, and untold hours, that former citizens of this Province spent putting together regulations to protect our communities, ecosystems, and human populations of Ontario. There are a variety of requirements needed to sustain life her in the Province. Our water, air, food supply, as well as our psychological health all rely on protected ecosystems. These ecosystems are fragile and are reliant on a responsible and intelligent use of the remaining sanctuaries of undisturbed land. The proposed, “Open for Business” narrative, in my mind anyway, only envisions an assemblage of the horrors’ of past collective endeavors’, many to this day, of the required use of citizen tax dollars to deal with the mitigation of the devastation, water and soil contamination and loss of biodiversity.

I think the C-66 Bill would be improved if we say “Ontario for Responsible Business Development” in regions were land has already been allocated for commercial and industrial purposes. Opening of the Ontario’s Green Belt does not represent long-term prosperity for Ontarians (e.g. clean water, sustainable agriculture, natural areas of recreation); it only represents short-term gains for developers.

The implementation of Ontario’s Green Belt represents a great deal of forethought for the protection of Ontarian’s sources of clean water, avoidance of urban sprawl, along with protection of natural spaces and Ontario’s biodiversity. It is an investment in the health and welfare of present and future Ontarians. It would be a travesty to erase that forethought for protection, simply for the short-term gains of developers. You have to ask yourself, what truly benefits Ontarian in the long journey. I would encourage the government to read about the importance of green belts to the urban areas and large cities that have made the conservation of their green belt a priority, e.g. City of London, UK.

We have a sustainable planet to protect and we need to grow enhance Ontario’s economy in a way that benefit Ontarians in the long run, but we need to resist the approaches that we know will only provide short-term gain, but will have long-term consequences for the quality of Ontario’s communities, quality of life, and biodiversity.