Developers have a great friend in the premier’s office

Re ‘The developers are all in control’: Doug Ford’s government moves to limit the power of conservation authorities, sparking fears for the environment, Nov. 11 The Doug Ford government is being criticized this week for not paying due attention to infectious diseases specialists. There’s a connection between that story and the news that the province just gave itself the power to override conservation authorities’ science-informed policies.

Climate change is a deeper and longer lasting risk than COVID-19, and there will never be a vaccine for it. Conservation authorities in this province are apolitical, and play a key role in both preventing climate change (by regulating building in watersheds) and mitigating events, such as floods, caused by climate change.

Clearly the Ford government is hoping that citizens’ eyes are so focused on the pandemic that nobody is noticing the many unprecedented increases in unilateral cabinet power we have lately seen.

Our watersheds need to be protected from unwise development. Ontarians are lucky to have conservation authorities that, unlike municipal councils, aren’t subject to pressures from the development industry. Developers have found a great friend in Doug Ford, as seen in recent anti-democratic uses of Ministerial Zoning Orders.

Now, he and his cabinet are using the provincial supremacy over local government granted by the 1867 Constitution to override both political and apolitical local governance bodies that take evidence-based measures to protect us from climate risks. Mariana Valverde, Toronto