Thank you for the…

Thank you for the opportunity to comment on proposals in Bill 66, Restoring Ontario’s Competitiveness Act, 2018.
While cutting “red tape” may be a benefit to increasing employment, it must not be done if the absence of robust oversight results in degradation of our waterways, agricultural lands , air and our natural environment. Schedule 10 would allow developers, big business and property speculators to, through agreeable municipalities, override the provisions in the Greenbelt Act, the Clean Water Act, the Lake Simcoe Act, the Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Act and the Great Lakes Protection Act. These municipalities, may, for short-term gain and without regard for long-term environmental consequences, allow development which could negatively affect the health and well-being of its residents and of residents farther afield, as pollution does not stay within the boundaries of a particular municipality. In addition this legislation allows municipalities to act covertly, to skip the processes of public notice and public hearings. This lack of a democratic process cuts people out of having a say in their own health and well-being and that of their neighbours. To defile procedures meant to protect us from opportunistic development by calling these procedures “red tape” is not in the best interest of all Ontarians.
I ask you to amend Bill 66 so that no municipality and no development can evade the protections provided by the Acts I named above and that no municipality can proceed with any development without first conducting democratically responsible public notice and public hearings.
I sincerely hope that the government reconsiders the potential risks the deregulation currently presents and takes steps to revise the Bill in ways that will protect its citizens from dangerous short-term solutions.