Stop Bill 66 from becoming law - Jan. 20 deadline for comments via Environmental Registry
[The following is courtesy of CAPE, Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment:] "Undermining Protection for Water Quality, the Greenbelt & Transit Supportive Communities On December 6th, the Ontario Government introduced Bill 66 - Restoring Ontario's Competitiveness Act. This Bill would allow municipalities to pass "open-for-business planning" by-laws, which would allow them to circumvent provincial policies and their own Official Plans when making decision about how their communities are developed. The "open-for-business" by-laws would allow municipalities to ignore provincial policies that have been developed to protect ground water, preserve agricultural land, and foster walkable and transit-supportive communities. These provincial policies help to improve the quality of life, protect public health, improve air qulaity, and reduce traffic congestion. They also help to reduce climate emissions, preserve greenspace, and save taxpayers' money.
This Bill should remind all of us about the Walkerton Inquiry, which identified overzealous provincial deregulation, budget cuts and staffing reduction as major contributing factors that resulted in seven deaths and thousands of illnesses among Walkerton residents who drank contaminated municipal water. (For more information, see comments prepared by the Canadian Environmental Law Association (CELA) and the Pembina Institute.)"
Our MPP, Bhutila Karpoche, Parkdale-High Park, further points out that Bill 66 "is an omnibus deregulation bill that does the following: • makes children in daycares less safe by removing regulations that were added when four chilldren died in a span of just seven months in 2013-14; • takes away protections for our parents and grandparents by making it less transparent for long-term care homes to get a license; • allow landlords to gouge tenants on utility bills: • removes protections placed on the Greenbelt, opening it up to development: • rips up the water regulations that were put in place after Walkerton
These acts were put in place for both the protection of our environment and the most vulnerable groups of our communities - children, seniors, and tenants. When the Legislature resumes (Feb. ) the bill will be up for debates as it moves along the process of becoming law."
Our MPP recommends that you can:
-Join her Phone Your Government night. (Contact her office.)
-Submit your comments via the Environmental Registry here, here, and
here
Email Todd Smith, Minister Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade at todd.smith.co@pc.ola.org or call his office at: 416-327-8475
Learn more about which pieces of legislation this omnibus bill dismantles, and this excellent outline of what you can do:
Join ProtectNatureTO and many nature protection and citizen groups and thousands of Ontarians making efforts to stop Bill 66 from obliterating years of struggle to establish and bring into force essential environmental protection laws in Ontario.
https://www.highparknature.org/wiki/uploads/HighParkNature//StopBill66_PNTO.pdf
https://www.protectnatureto.org/projects/
Petitions you can sign, and recommendations for letter writing.
Ontario Nature:
Ontario Nature: Bill 66: What you need to know
Ontario Nature Petition - "Privileging big business over the people of Ontario"
1. "Read and distribute our blog posting which explains the very serious environmental implications of Bill 66: What You Need to Know (https://ontarionature.org/bill-66-facts/). When distributing the blog, please ask people to sign the online letter that is being sent to Premier Ford, Todd Smith (Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade) who introduced the Bill, Steve Clark (Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing) and Rod Phillips (Minister of Environment, Conservation and Parks) and to share with their networks. .... Please consider posting our blog on you group’s Facebook page. You can do this logging onto your Facebook page and then clicking on the Facebook icon at the end of our blog. ...
2. Read our attached draft comments on Bill 66 and use them to make a submission for your organization in response to EBR Registry Number 013-4293 posted on the ERO website . You are welcome to use Ontario Nature’s comments in their entirety or draw from them. If you are unable to submit your own comments, we would be very happy to add you as a signatory to Ontario Nature’s submission. Please let Lisa or me know as soon as you can but by January 15that the latest.
Environmental Defence:
Ontario’s environmental laws are under attack by Premier Doug Ford: Why we need to come together to STOP BILL 66
Sign the petition telling Premier Doug Ford and your MPP to save the Greenbelt, protect our water and keep us safe from toxic chemicals – www.stopbill66.ca
Toronto Field Naturalists: Stop Bill 66
Lead Now: Defend the Environment, Save the Greenbelt, and Protect our Water: Stop Bill 66
North Gwillimbury Forest Alliance: Save the North Gwillimbury Forest - Tell Attorney General Caroline Mulroney that the North Gwillimbury Forest and the Greenbelt must be preserved and protected - forever
Where does your MPP stand?
See your Member of Provincial Parliament on our Greenbelt and Fresh Water Opponents list? Take action and ask them to vote against Bill 66.
Is your MPP on the Supporters list? Send them a thank you for their commitment to protect the Greenbelt and our clean water.
Amplify your voice
We encourage you to write letters to your representatives, and editors of newspapers. You can also tweet, write on their Facebook page and/or call them. Contact local media. Send letters to the editor, call talk-back lines, and tweet.
CBC Metro Morning - Tel. (416) 205-5807; Email. metromoring@cbc.ca; Tweet @metromorning
Global News Radio 640 Toronto – Tel. 416-870-6400 or (star) *640 on your cell; Tweet. @am640
Toronto Star - Email. lettertoed@thestar.ca; Tweet. @torontostar
Globe and Mail - Email. letters@globeandmail.com; Tweet @globeandmail
National Post - Email. letters@nationalpost.com ; Tweet @nationalpost
Toronto Sun – Visit https://torontosun.com/send-letter ; Tweet @thetorontosun
Pick up a lawn sign: https://www.stopbill66.ca/pick-up-signage/
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