Bill 66 allows…

Bill 66 allows municipalities across the province to create “open-for-business by-laws” that would negate legal and ethical requirements to protect water, natural heritage, farmland and human health and well-being.
Such by-laws would override approved source protection plans intended to safe-guarding existing and future municipal drinking water from threats such as landfills, sewage systems and improper handling of fuel, manure and pesticides. This returns the people of Ontario to a pre-Walkerton-crisis vulnerability in terms of water quality but, moreover, the proposed act thus actually threatens economically productive activities and growth.
Likewise Bill 66 would repeal the Toxics Reduction Act, which requires certain industrial facilities to consider ways to reduce use and emission of toxic chemicals. Again, this threatens the health of Ontarians.
Open-for-business by-laws would circumvent protections for important habitats and species, as set out in the Provincial Policy Statement (PPS) under the Planning Act. Equally, proposed by-laws bypass agricultural protections in the PPS and other regulations.
Open-for-business by-laws would override protections for natural heritage and farmland set out in the Greenbelt Plan and the Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Plan. Likewise they trump requirements set out in the Lake Simcoe Protection Plan.
These by-laws would take precedence over municipal official plans and override PPS policies supporting active transportation, affordable housing, green infrastructure and climate resiliency.
The intended effect, of these changes is to increase urban sprawl. Sprawl is an expensive drag on the economy and a contributor to human-induced climate change. Sprawl’s inefficient and extensive infrastructure has to be maintained in perpetuity at the expense of citizen and corporate tax-payers.
Businesses make investment decisions on quality-of-life calculations for employees that they wish to attract. The above changes will be counter-productive in the emerging knowledge economy of Ontario. They impede Ontario’s capacity to create jobs and attract workers.
Bill 66 is an alarming melange, thrown together in an “omnibus” format that defies rational debate (We have here regulations affecting the wages of greenhouse workers, bed-ridden seniors, college students, international driving permits, expression of religious beliefs, unionists, child care standards, loan guarantees, electricity meters, consumer credit, the work week, elevators, architectural detailing, pawnbrokers….. and on…. and on ,……and on).
Worst of all, and contrary to current legal requirements (Planning Act, Clean Water Act), the above by-laws could be passed without prior public notice and behind closed doors. Community members - citizens - would not be able to appeal open-for-business by-laws to the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal. That is not Canadian democracy as we know it!

This is a bulldozer of a bill without brakes! It should be abandoned in its current form.