Letters

“Citizen Call to Action” on Bill 66

January 24, 2019   ·   0 Comments

My letter is a citizen Call to Action on the proposed Ontario “Open for Business” Act (Bill 66) which will allow development on protected lands, bypassing existing regulations and controls.
These new bylaws can: ignore the laws that protect our clean and safe drinking water; pave over the Greenbelt with factories and sprawling subdivisions; and threaten the protection of Lake Simcoe, the Oak Ridges Moraine and our farmland. These are non-partisan issues.
There is much information on google, including links at stopbill66.ca (an initiative of 24 concerned organizations) to many articles, reports, legal analysis, FAQs, plus contacts & information for MPPs regarding this hasty, ill-conceived, and regressive bill.
The comment period to the government of only 45 days finished on January 20.
I implore you to contact your MPP on what stance you, as constituent, wish him/her to take. There are already plenty of waiting employment lands – over 2,500 hectares in York Region alone – and municipalities welcome business!
If your municipality chooses to pass the “Open for Business” bylaw, there will be NO public notice, consultation, OR appeal on pertinent development proposals – which will also be exempted from Planning Act requirements.
Councils’ resolutions to “not” participate may change later. Each municipality’s decision affects competitiveness and our future safety. Surely good minds can find smarter ways to encourage employment development!

Catherine Marshall
Aurora

(Editor’s Note: Aurora Council voted against the “Open for Business” bylaw in December)

         

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