Opposition to Abrogation
of Environmental Protection
Demonstration outside
Environment
Minister Lisa Thompson's office
December 14, 2018.
Stop Ontario Bill 66!
Join the
Stop
Bill 66 campaign -- www.stopbill66.ca
Some of the most retrogressive and dangerous
measures
introduced in the Ontario Ford government's Bill 66 are
changes to
the Planning Act. These proposed changes faced swift and
broad
opposition as soon as the bill was made public. People from all
walks
of life put up lawn signs, signed petitions, made calls to their
MPPs
and rallied outside of their offices. Farmers, small business
owners
and many municipal leaders publicly opposed Bill 66, putting
their
concern for environmental protection first.
The Ontario Municipal Affairs Minister Steve
Clark
tweeted on social media on January 23, "[The PC government]
has
listened to the concerns raised by MPPs, municipalities and
stakeholders with regards to Schedule 10 of Bill 66 and
when
the legislature returns in February, we will not proceed with
Schedule 10 of
the Bill."
Environmental groups are spearheading a campaign
called
"Stop Bill 66." They want to make sure that not only the
changes
to the Planning Act are indeed cancelled when the
Legislature
returns but that the entire bill is scrapped.
The Planning Act sets out the ground rules
for
land use planning in Ontario. Schedule 10 of the bill, which
Minister Clark facing almost universal opposition has said will
be
dropped, would have amended the Planning Act by adding a new
provision
that enables a municipality to pass an "open-for-business
planning
bylaw."
According to the Ford government, the change would have created a
new
"economic development tool" that would allow municipalities "to
ensure
that they can act quickly to attract businesses seeking
development
sites."
The proposal for an open-for-business planning
bylaw
gives some insight into the profoundly anti-social and
anti-democratic
outlook of the Ford government. The bylaw would be part of a
municipality's zoning powers. Before passing such a bylaw, the
municipality must first seek the approval of the Minister of
Municipal
Affairs and Housing.
The demand would require a council resolution and any "prescribed
information." This would include "open-for-business information,
including details about the proposed employment opportunity, [and
demonstrate that the bylaw is] for a new major employment use."
The
minimum threshold would be 50 new jobs in municipalities of
less
than 250,000 people and 100 jobs for municipalities
with
over 250,000. Within the process, no public notice or
hearing
would be required prior to passing an open-for-business planning
bylaw.
Once an "open-for-business planning bylaw" had
provincial government approval and was passed, a number of
provisions
from the existing Planning Act and the following laws
would not
apply to whatever "development project" has been proposed:
- Clean Water Act, 2006;
- Great Lakes
Protection Act, 2015;
- Greenbelt Act, 2005;
- Lake Simcoe
Protection Act, 2008;
- Metrolinx Act, 2006;
- Oak Ridges
Moraine Conservation Act, 2001;
- Ontario Planning and Development
Act, 1994;
- Places to Grow Act, 2005; and
-
Resource Recovery and Circular Economy Act, 2016 .
Environmental groups forcefully pointed out that
in
many cases these laws came into being with significant history,
including environmental damage and death and illness suffered by
Ontarians. An example is the Clean Water Act (CWA) that
was
passed after the Walkerton, Ontario tragedy in 2000.
Contamination
of
Walkerton's drinking water, as a result of inadequate
purification and
water testing, following the system's privatization, claimed
seven
lives and made thousands of people very ill. After Walkerton, the
CWA
drew up source water protection plans to protect drinking water
facilities across Ontario. If that part of the bill was passed,
these
measures
would be threatened and this would open the door to other water
contamination tragedies.
It should be noted that another measure in
Bill 66
entails the repeal of the Toxics Reduction Act, 2009
,
scheduled for December 31, 2021, and the repeal of all
existing regulations within the Planning Act. Wide opposition to
the
repeal of this Act has quickly grown in Ontario. The Act deals
with the
use of
toxic substances at the workplace with the stated aim of reducing
them.
The government is proposing the repeal of the Act without any
input
from the workers and people of Ontario who are exposed or have
been
exposed to toxic substances, and without a word of explanation or
scientific argument as to why this should be done.
Stop Bill 66!
This article was published in
Number 3 - January 31, 2019
Article Link:
Opposition to Abrogation
of Environmental Protection
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
|
