Because of strong actions taken recently by the Canadian Union of Public Employees, Ontario Premier Doug Ford has begun to learn that he cannot trample unimpeded over Ontarians' rights. We know it is possible to cancel a bill after it has been passed, as they have agreed to do with Bill 28. With our civil protections restored, it is time to restore integrity to our environmental protections.

  On 08 December 2020, omnibus budget Bill 229 was passed with little fanfare, as would be expected of something subtitled the "Protect, Support and Recover from COVID-19 Act". However, tucked away within those innocuous provisions were Schedules 6 and 8, the Conservation Authorities Act, and the Crown Forest Sustainability Act. Schedule 8 repeals provisions of the 1994 Crown Forest Sustainability Act, allowing for the provincial government to evade and override long established and agreed upon protections for Crown forest land; that is, public land.

Schedule 8 Will Exempt Logging Companies from the Endangered Species Act​

Commercial Logging Plans Up for Renewal in Algonquin Park

  Schedule 6 did much the same, but in a more nefarious way. It took away many of the abilities of our conservation authorities to, well, conserve. These councils are responsible for preserving endangered ecosystems, such as increasingly rare wetlands which serve an important natural function in managing excess rainfall, and protecting endangered species. We won't go into every single slash that this massive gutting entailed, but suffice it to say it enabled the Ford government to bulldoze almost anything they please in the endless drive towards development, ignoring or overriding conservation authorities at will. This is the opposite of checks and balances; this is a strongarm government running rampant over the province, and an insult to the people of Ontario. The details are available here:

Bill 229

  As with Schedule 8, many of these amendments were pushed through with zero public consultation. The "assault on conservation" was so egregious that many of those who sat on the Greenbelt council resigned, angry at the provincial government.

David Crombie Resigns as Head of Greenbelt Council​

Half the Greenbelt Council Resign in Solidarity with David Crombie

  Neither of these provisions went unremarked by the parties they were relevant to, but amid the chaos of COVID lockdowns, it escaped the notice of the general populace.

  Despite publicly promising to leave the Greenbelt intact, Ford was privately caught at campaign meetings (before his first term as premier) with developers telling them he would do just the opposite: open up that beautiful, natural landscape "for business". Profit is his number one priority, not the health of the province or its people. Nor should we trust their narrative about a "swap", exchanging some Greenbelt lands for new ones - much of the land they propose to include in the Greenbelt after they devastate other parts of it is already protected by othe rprovisions. We must not fall for this semantic trick.

Doug Ford Talks to Developers About Opening Up the Greenbelt​

Proposed Ammendments to the Greenbelt Plan

  Now, under the guise of much needed "affordable housing", a lazily defined term that is, with little surprise, another way for the Premier's developer buddies to fleece the taxpayer, Doug Ford and Steve Clark, Ontario's Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, are trampling both democracy and environmental protections. The provisions of Schedule 6 have come home to roost, and with nothing to protect the ecologically precious lands of Ontario's Greenbelt, Ford's government has forced Hamilton to expand its city borders - despite that the people of Hamilton and its city council do not want this (in fact, most Ontarians don't want a Ford government at all; only low voter turnout kept them in power in the last election).

Province Orders Hamilton to Expand Its Boundary​

Anti-sprawl Advocates Fight for Farmland

  The people of Hamilton want their boundaries to remain intact, and for future development to take the shape of greater infill and mixed zoning - as was recommended by the Ontario Housing Affordability Task Force [Ontario Housing Affordability Task Force report]. The people of Ontario (and the rest of Canada) know that more McMansions and luxury condos in cottage country will not do anything to make housing affordable for the rest of us.

  Tell Doug Ford and Steve Clark we see them. Tell them we, as Ontarians, do not want the natural beauty of our province trampled for the sake of further enriching the richest people in the country. We stand with the people of Hamilton, and conservation authorities across the province, who do the work of keeping Ontario not only beautiful, but healthy and safe. Rescind Schedules 6 and 8 from Bill 229 and put our environmental protections and conservation authorities back into place, and STOP SELLING OUR FUTURE to his developer buddies.