[All] Fwd: URGENT - OGA Members We Need Your Help Now!
c d Moulton
deaunm at gmail.com
Thu Oct 6 12:28:03 EDT 2016
This message comes from the Ontario Greenbelt Alliance. Please take the
time to send an email to the Premier about this attack on the Greenbelt.
Suggested language is given at the end of this message.
thanks
deaun
Dear OGA members,
*The steering committee needs your help and it's urgent*
We've been working to bring to light some of the threats facing the
Greenbelt and to push back on developer plans to try
and take lands out of the Greenbelt and undermine the Growth plan.
As mentioned last week, *here is the new Greenbelt take-out requests map
for release today* showing just a third of all take out requests are coming
from across the Greenbelt. We want to highlight this to local media and the
public so all understand these threats are real we all need to tell the
province to keep the Greenbelt strong before the end of the review Oct
31st. We need a big push to have as many people sign our petitions and send
a message to the Premier. *Please help us by doing the following within the
next 24 hours*
*What We Need Each Of Your organizations To Do:*
1. Contact your local media and forward them the press release and map.
Try to get them to write a story on this by providing a local angle, if you
can.
2. Send out an email alert to your contacts/members/supporters asking
them to send a letter to the Premier. Below is the text TEA will use for
their email blast. Feel free to borrow from it, but modify it as required
for your audience. Please send one out this week and a second one next
week.
3. Do a Facebook post and tweet about the new map and the new action.
*What's to Come:*
On Tuesday, October 11 we plan to release a new piece called "5 Facts the
Development Industry Doesn't Want you to Know about Housing in the Greater
Toronto Area." The plan is to post this on the OGA website in the Breaking
News section and is designed to help inform the discussion about the real
causes of high housing prices in the GGH.
*A Final Plea:*
The fate of the Greenbelt is partially in our hands. While we are not the
decision makers, we do have the power to influence the decision makers by
mobilizing our supporters. If we get the word out about the action, we can
create pressure for the Province NOT to cave into developers. If we do not
get the word out about the action, we are effectively allowing the
development industry a free ride. Please do what you can to use the tools
we've
*Here are two Sample Emails you can send to your members and supporters -
please send the first today and the second next week. *
We need to encourage as many Ontarians to sign the petition on the site
protectthegreenbelt.ca.
------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------
*Sample email 1. *
*New map reveals developers want to harm Greenbelt: Take Action Now to Stop
This!*
*Thursday, October 6, 2016 *
Today the Ontario Greenbelt Alliance (OGA) released a map highlighting the
potential harmful impacts of more than 650 requests, by developers and
municipalities to the Ontario government, to remove land from Ontario’s
protected Greenbelt.
The map pinpoints just one-third of the 650 requests made by developers and
municipalities to remove protected lands from the Greenbelt. Although only
a fraction of the total requests, the portion mapped is almost 11,000
hectares (27,000 acres). The map also shows existing towns and villages in
the Greenbelt that could be ringed with more sprawl subdivisions if
developers get their way.
“The Premier has a very simple choice: protect the Greenbelt and build more
sustainable cities or cave to developer pressure and perpetuate the loss of
farmland and natural areas and the crushing of gridlock and unlivable
cities,” said Jack Gibbons of the North Gwillimbury Forest Alliance.
You can read the full press release here.
*If you Care about the Greenbelt, Take Action Now!*
The Development industry is aggressively lobbying the province to take
farms and forests out of the Greenbelt. We need you to send a letter to the
Premier *today* asking her to keep the Greenbelt off limits to urban sprawl
from developers [link to www.protectthegreenbelt.ca].
-------------------------
*Sample Email 2*
Draft Email Blast Text
Subject line: Act Now to Stop Urban Sprawl
Preview text: Protect our rivers and farmland
Dear {{name}}
When the Greenbelt Act was introduced 10 years ago, it was about protecting
irreplaceable farmland, forests, lakes, rivers and wetlands from urban
sprawl. If these protected lands are lost, they’re lost forever.
While we’ve been busy building public support for growing the Greenbelt,
the development industry has been aggressively lobbying the province to
take farms and forests out of the Greenbelt. We cannot let this happen and
need your help to stop it.
Here is what the development industry has been doing to take control of
these irreplaceable Greenbelt lands that we rely on for local food, fresh
water and billions of dollars worth of vital ecological services:
- They’ve made upwards of 600 requests to the province as part of the
Coordinated Land Use Planning Review to take land out of the Greenbelt and
make it available for development, even though they have access to over
100,000 hectares of land outside the Greenbelt that is ready to develop.
- They’re lobbying hard to stop the province’s plan to encourage smart
growth by requiring municipalities and developers to build a mix of housing
types close to existing transit and other infrastructure.
Over 500 requests have come from developers to let urban sprawl into the
Greenbelt. Help us send 5,000 requests to the Premier telling her: “Don’t
Let Urban Sprawl into the Greenbelt: Protect it from Developers!”
We have until October 31st when the ten year review of the Greenbelt
legislation comes to a close. Click here to send your letter today. [link
to www.protectthegreenbelt.ca].
---------
*THANK YOU! *
Thanks everyone for pulling together at this critical time,
Erin
--
Erin Shapero
Greenbelt & Smart Growth Senior Program Manager
*** Please note: I am in the office Monday-Thursday and out of the office
Friday.
116 Spadina Avenue, Suite 300, Toronto, Ontario, M5V 2K6
Tel: 416.323.9521 x224 | Toll Free: 1.877.399.2333 | Fax: 416.323.9301
web: environmentaldefence.ca | twitter: @envirodefence| facebook:
EnvironmentalDefenceCanada
We are Canada's most effective environmental action organization. We
challenge, and inspire change in government, business and people to ensure
a greener, healthier and prosperous life for all.
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