The Algonquin to Adirondack…

The Algonquin to Adirondack Collaborative is an environmental charity which works to protect wildlife and to maintain habitat connectivity for wildlife through the broad region from Algonquin Park in Ontario to the Adirondack Park in New York State. We have over 50 partner organizations and 250 members who support our vision and work with us on a variety of projects including Conservation Action Planning and mitigating the effects of road corridors on wildlife. We envision an Algonquin to Adirondacks region that is resilient, with an ecologically connected landscape which sustains a full range of native wildlife.

http://www.a2acollaborative.org/

The negative impact of open-for-business by-laws is far-reaching and profound in the Ontario region of the Algonquin to Adirondacks Corridor. In each case they would override key operative provisions in the laws listed in Schedule 10, undermining fair and consistent application of laws and policies designed to protect drinking water, natural heritage, farmland and watershed health across Ontario, and leaving communities open to unchecked development. For example, policies that would not apply in open-for-business by-law areas include:

• Those addressing significant threats to municipal drinking water (e.g., landfills, sewage systems, and the storage or handling of fuel, fertilizers, manure, pesticides, road salt, organic solvents and other substances on lands near wells or surface water intake pipes used by municipal drinking water systems);
• Those protecting provincially significant wetlands, woodlands and valley lands and habitat of species at risk;
• Those supporting active transportation, affordable housing, green infrastructure and climate resiliency;
• Those protecting key natural heritage features, key hydrologic features, natural core areas and natural linkage areas across the Oak Ridges Moraine.

Under the guise of cutting red tape, open-for-business by-laws would bypass legal requirements (Planning Act, Clean Water Act) designed to ensure fair, consistent and transparent public engagement with land-use decisions in our communities. Open-for-business by-laws could be passed without any prior public notice or meetings and could not be appealed to the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal. In other words, by-laws passed behind closed doors would trump laws, policies and municipal official plans developed through extensive and open public consultation. Communities would have no recourse to influence or challenge them.

Further, Bill 66 would allow Cabinet (not the Legislature) to add other legal provisions to the list of those in Schedule 10 to be circumvented by open-for-business by-laws, an approach which limits opportunities for transparent public consideration and debate.

Finally, we question whether there is demand from municipalities for open-for-business by-laws, ostensibly proposed by the government to make more employment lands available. At the Growth Plan implementation consultation held on November 8, 2018 at Queen’s Park many municipalities indicated that they have a surplus of employment lands and would like to see these rezoned for residential. Since the introduction of Bill 66, many municipal leaders (e.g., in Guelph, Aurora, Burlington, Barrie, Oakville, Hamilton, Toronto) have expressed serious concerns about open-for-business by-laws and the circumvention of laws that protect drinking water, farmlands and natural areas and ensure public input and transparency in decision-making.

In conclusion, the A2A corridor represents a critical ecological link that provides the connectivity required to maintain important ecological functions, biodiversity and wildlife movement. Regional ecological connectivity is also a key feature in protecting the landscape against climate change as species move to adapt to changing climatic conditions. If passed and implemented at the municipal level, Bill 66 represents a serious threat to the ecological integrity and connectivity in the A2A corridor as protection for wetlands and other environmental values are bypassed in the interests of open-for-business zones which municipalities have not been asking for or suggesting are necessary for good public planning or policy.

A high quality and protected natural environmental is critical not only for wildlife and ecological functions, but for our own quality of life. It should not be set aside in the interests of unnecessary “open-for-business” provisions such as those contained in Bill 66.