Please do not pass Bill 66…

Please do not pass Bill 66. If enacted, this Bill would repeal the Toxics Reduction Act and amend multiple provincial statutes, including the Planning Act.

Under Schedule 10 of Bill 66, municipalities can pass "Open for Business" planning by-laws aimed at attracting new major development.

These bylaws are exempt from public notice, comment and appeal provisions in the Planning Act. Moreover, these bylaws are automatically exempt from key environmental protection laws, plans and policies, including:
- the Clean Water Act,
- the Greenbelt Act,
- the Great Lakes Protection Act,
- the Provincial Policy Statement under the Planning Act, and several more.
Premier Ford 's "Government of the People" is undoing the Ontario PC Party's own environmental legacy legislation and the hard work of the people of Ontario over the past 40 years.

Former Progressive Conservative Premier, the Honourable Bill Davis (1971-1985), is hailed as the saviour of the Greenbelt. In 2007, the Friends of the Greenbelt Foundation, Davis' actions laid the groundwork for what has now become the Ontario Greenbelt.
In 1973 Davis and his government took action to protect the Niagara Escarpment from overdevelopment, putting into place Canada's first-ever environmental land-use plan.

In terms of biodiversity and environmental significance, the Ontario Greenbelt is priceless. The Greenbelt is the world's largest protected greenbelt. Ontario’s Greenbelt provides the province with $9.1 billion in economic benefits and 161,000 full-time equivalent jobs according to the Friends of the Greenbelt Foundation.

Bill 66 puts projects and economic concerns ahead of people in the environment, flies in the face of the city’s Official Plan and falls outside the spirit of community engagement and public consultation.

I am left with the big question: When Mr. Ford calls his government the "Government of the People", exactly who is he referring to in the word "People"?

I strongly oppose Bill 66 and I am going to make sure everyone in my community knows about the potential negative impacts of Bill 66 if enacted and amplify my voice through my networks across Ontario.

Please act on behalf of the people and do not pass Bill 66.