January 18, 2019 The 600…

January 18, 2019

The 600-member Hamilton Naturalists' Club joins with many conservation and environmental organizations, and a growing number of municipal officials and representatives across Ontario, in opposing very contentious aspects of Bill 66.
We urge the government to listen to the constructive feedback it is receiving and rewrite this omnibus deregulation bill to ensure that economic development and job creation will be sustainable in terms of environmental protection and sound planning.
Like many others, we do not support various sections in this sweeping Bill that would amend or abolish well-established regulations and legislation, affecting 12 municipalities, that have been designed to protect drinking water, natural heritage features such as the Greenbelt and the Oak Ridges Moraine, the health of watersheds and farmland.
We are especially opposed to Schedule 10 in the Act, which would allow municipalities to introduce "open for business" bylaws that would override critical legislative requirements that ensure sustainable planning, protect our environment, public health, natural resources and more.
The Greenbelt Act, of vital importance in preserving the quality of life in fast-growing and heavily urbanized southern Ontario, is just one of the beneficial laws that would be circumvented by Bill 66, notwithstanding Premier Ford's promise to leave the Greenbelt intact. The premier's statement was well-founded, in light of a 2016 Nanos poll that found 90 per cent of Ontarians believe the province is responsible to ensure a healthy environment for all. Ninety-seven per cent support the right to clean air and water.
Laws that safeguard the Greenbelt, the Great Lakes, the Oak Ridges Moraine, farmland and more must be comprehensive. The protection that communities rely upon will be put at risk whenever a municipality chooses to enact an "open for business" bylaw for exemption from provincial requirements.
Ontario's sound foundation of balanced, sustainable environmental and planning legislation must not be eroded by municipalities, one by one. Watersheds, for example, cover multiple municipal boundaries. Pollution emanating from one municipality invariably causes harm to an area well beyond the original source. Ontario, if anything, should strive to assist municipalities in improving initiatives such as the Greenbelt, ideally with a Bluebelt to enhance protection of watersheds.
It is difficult to understand why the province would open the possibility of the Clean Water Act, a welcome safeguard implemented after the Walkerton tragedy, being circumvented by Bill 66. Citizens have ample reason to worry that an exemption from the Clean Water Act would jeopardize the safety of our drinking water.
Similarly, the HNC opposes the potential repeal of the Toxics Reduction Act in Schedule 5, a proposal that has particularly worrisome implications for industrial cities like Hamilton.
It is disturbing that Bill 66 would permit "open for business" bylaws to eliminate opportunities for public input on planning decisions. Such bylaws could be passed without any prior public notice or meetings and could not be appealed to the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal. We join with many groups in finding such lack of transparency completely unacceptable.
Many organizations and municipal officials have questioned the need for new "open for business" bylaws, ostensibly proposed in part by the government to make more employment lands available. At the Growth Plan implementation consultation on November 8,, 2018, at Queen's Park, many municipalities indicated they have a surplus of employment lands.
We believe Schedule 10 and Schedule 5 would undoubtedly be a retrograde step, turning back the clock on many years of good planning, community input and inspired leadership by governments of all political stripes. Ontario must not return to an era of short-term, politically expedient planning that would degrade our natural resources, promote costly urban sprawl at the expense of precious farmland, jeopardize the safety of our drinking water, and diminish our quality of life.
It is crucial that our young people and future generations are not burdened with trying to solve such daunting problems as a result of provincial policies which were the problem rather than the solution.
We urge the government to remove Schedule 10 and Schedule 5 from Bill 66. It is essential that conservation and environmental organizations, together with municipalities, are fully consulted. We urge the government to rewrite the legislation as we have suggested to ensure that Ontario's prosperity is managed in a responsible way to the benefit of present and future generations.
Thank you, on behalf of the Directors and Members of the Hamilton Naturalists' Club, celebrating our 100th Anniversary in 2019.