I am thrilled that Schedule 10 is being removed from Bill 66. It threatened the Greenbelt, the Oak Ridges Moraine, Lake Simcoe and source water protection areas by opening them up to development. If enacted our farmland would be at risk: the monetary value of farmland would increase (for the wrong reason) as it would now represent development opportunity as opposed to a place to grow our food. Ontario Federation of Agriculture wrote a very strong letter opposing Schedule 10 for this reason. Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing announced this January 23; read it here.
In addition I feel empowered with this demonstration of what citizens can achieve. To work democracy requires engaged citizens; citizens who are informed and who are ready to take action. The actions of citizens to express that Schedule 10 was a bad idea was in various forms: emails to and conversations with MPP’s, participating in protests, signing petitions, erecting a sign. Each of these actions was a factor in persuading the Government to reverse is position. All those who did get engaged should congratulate themselves.
We need to stay engaged as there several pieces of legislation under review such as Places To Grow Act; amendments to the latter may allow expansion of settlement boundaries and infrastructure into the Greenbelt. I will be learning more.
Debbie,
You have been the shining star of well-placed criticism of Bill 66 since December 6th when the Province announced first reading.
You have a well balanced and certainly sober approach to controversial issues, this one included. You determined, as many other across Ontario did, that Bill 66 and specifically Section 10, would be a huge step back not just for our valued statutory environmental protections, but for sustainable and profitable economic growth across Ontario.
We need to continue the dialogue on both of these pillars. There is much room for positive economic growth in King
Greg
It was through your blog, Debbie, that I learned about Sect. 10 and its implications – so thank YOU for raising the flag.
and thank you Angela for adding your voice to the calls for stopping Schedule 10.