Ontario continues pro-developer, anti-environmental plan
When the COVID-19 pandemic is finally behind us, Ontarians may re-emerge to find their province forever changed for the worse.
The recent move by the provincial government to use special powers — called a Minister’s Zoning Order (MZO) — to approve plans to build a production facility on a “provincially significant” wetland in Pickering is the latest example of a larger trend.
While we have all been understandably preoccupied with the pandemic, the Ontario government has stealthily accelerated their developers-take-all agenda.
If they continue, many of the wetlands, forests, ravines, farmland and conservation areas that are home to countless endangered species will all be sold off, paved over, or mowed down.
The Pickering example is particularly egregious. The wetlands are supposed to be protected under provincial laws. But provincial laws be damned, it seems.
The deal isn’t yet done. The Toronto and Region Conservation Authority hasn’t agreed to issue a necessary permit. But if they refuse, what’s to stop the government from stripping the conservation authority of the power to say no? This is the Ontario we live in today. Ontario is open for business. It’s open season for gravel pits and quarries, a highway-building bonanza, and a free-for-all for developers.
Problematic projects have been popping up all over the province.
The quarry near Burlington that Canadian musician Sarah Harmer fought is back, threatening to blow a hole in the Niagara Escarpment.
Two highways are being fasttracked. One is through the Holland Marsh — some of the best farmland in Canada. Another is north of the 407, cutting across the Humber and Credit Rivers, and slicing through the Greenbelt — which the premier has promised to protect multiple times.
MZOs are being used everywhere. One issued this spring allowed development on a large wetland in Vaughan. Another’s been requested to fast-track a plan to build a massive subdivision in Innisfil, in the middle of nowhere. All told, over 30 MZOs have been issued this year, which is more than the previous government issued over the course of 15 years.
The pandemic poses challenges of course. How can we, the people, protect our province while we’re being asked to stay at home?
But we can and must protect Ontario.
Community efforts stopped an MZO that would have cut down a Simcoe forest, and kept another one away from the headwaters of Pickering’s Carruthers Creek. And a massive public outcry turned back multiple government attempts to open up the Greenbelt.
But now, decades of environmental progress are headed for the trash bin because of a government committed to an environmentally destructive agenda of putting developer interests first.
We can’t let that happen. We can work together to stop destructive development so that our province is better after the pandemic, not worse. Ontario is yours to protect.