[All] Bill 66 - Success in North Dumfries!

Tue Jan 22 10:43:36 EST 2019

1) North Dumfries Township Approved Motion - Stephanie Sobek-Swant from rare gave another great presentation to North Dumfries Township last night and their Council voted unanimously to pass a resolution opposing Bill 66 and supporting our strong local protections as well as committing to community engagement.  This now means that all of our area municipalities (4 Townships and 3 Cities) have passed motions as well as many staff reports opposing the municipal act changes of Bill 66 and are united with the Region of Waterloo in pushing back on the provincial proposal for Bill 66.

Kudos to everyone who delegated, worked with area municipal Staff/Councillors, sent e-mails, and came out in person to these Council meetings to help ensure the best possible outcomes.  By getting strong commitments to our good local planning and protections these resolutions will not only be important in the fight against Bill 66 but will also serve us well in the months and years ahead with proposed changes to the Growth Plan, the Regional review, and other potential threats.

2) Final Wilmot Township Resolution Wording - Wilmot has now released the final wording of their extremely strong motion reinforcing their excellent Staff Report.  This motion has been sent to every MPP and municipality in the province leaving no question as to where the Township stands on Bill 66 and hopefully inspiring other municipalities to speak up as well.

3) Help Others Around Ontario - We have had many calls and e-mails from individuals and groups elsewhere in Ontario hoping tor assistance in their fight against Bill 66 - places like Welland, Niagara Falls, Kingston, Markham, London, Northhumberland, and elsewhere.  Not everyone has the good governance, strong Councillors or excellent Staff that we have across our municipalities and region.  Please talk to your friends and relatives in other jurisdictions and see how we might be able to help them with presentations to their Councils, letters to their elected officials, or articles in their media.

Kerry Mueller has a fantastic idea for anyone with a cottage and that is to present at your local municipality there as well.  She will be presenting at Seguin Township of February 4th and there are some really alarming implications of Bill 66 for waterfront developments and bypassing so many of the protections cottage country municipalities have tried to put into place to ensure sustainable development on their lakes.  These concerns and others are well articulated in this excellent editorial from the Parry Sound North Star:

https://www.parrysound.com/opinion-story/9128912-should-parry-sound-be-open-for-business-regardless-of-environmental-impacts-/

4) Doug Ford Announces Review of Endangered Species Act to “Find Efficiencies for Business” - Just when we thought it couldn’t get any more absurd with the gutting of the Green Energy Act, the cancellation of Cap & Trade, Bill 66, and last week’s brutal proposed changes to the Growth Plan, late Friday the Ford government announced a review of the Endangered Species Act to reduce red tape for business:

https://ero.ontario.ca/notice/013-4143 <https://ero.ontario.ca/notice/013-4143>

Of course the proposal is to weaken the existing legislation and reduce "onerous obligations" on business.  Minister Rod Phillips states he is seeking a more balanced approach to boost the environment and the economy, streamline approval processes, and meet “multiple objectives”.

You can read more in this article by the National Observer:

https://www.nationalobserver.com/2019/01/18/news/doug-ford-reviewing-endangered-species-act-find-efficiencies-businesses <https://www.nationalobserver.com/2019/01/18/news/doug-ford-reviewing-endangered-species-act-find-efficiencies-businesses>

We have 45 days to provide comments and feedback on the EBR.

5) MPP & Premier Meetings - Now that we have secured so many strong resolutions against Bill 66 from our local Councils we need to focus more on our MPP’s.  This will including having as many people as possible phone, e-mail, drop by and try to secure meetings with them - particularly our three Conservative MPP’s.  

We also need to continue to send a strong message to the Premier.  This could include phone calls to the Office of the Premier - 416-325-1941.  If you are brave enough you can also try calling Doug Ford’s personal cell phone number that he regularly gives out to constituents - 416-805-2156 - perhaps you will have a chance to talk to him directly about your concerns on Bill 66.

We have heard rumours that the PC Caucus meeting is going to be held Monday, February 4th at the Delta Hotel in Uptown Waterloo.  We need to think about how we can best utilize this gathering of the Premier and all Conservative MPP’s to send a strong message about Bill 66.  This could include noisy protests, trying to secure meetings with elected officials at the hotel, signage around the venue, partnering with other groups, or even subtle things such as brochures on the windshields of all the cars at the venue.  If anyone can work their networks to learn more about this caucus meeting it would be greatly appreciated.  Please share any thoughts or ideas.

6) Stop Bill 66 Lawn Signs and Buttons - Please come by to pick up some free Stop Bill 66 Lawn Signs and Buttons from the front porch of these locations:

Kitchener - 17 Major Street (near Lancaster and Victoria)
Waterloo - 53 Menno Street (near Caroline and Erb)

Thousands of lawn signs are going up across the province and we will want to ensure that we are sending a strong message too - particularly if the Premier and all Conservative MPPs will be coming to our region on Feb 4th. One Ontario Nature member put his lawn sign up and then delivered a letter to all his neighbours explaining Bill 66 and the reasons for his sign.  He how has multiple signs up in his neighbourhood.

7) Our Water Our Future - Thursday, Feb 7th 7:00pm - Tickets are now available for our second speakers event.  More than 60 people have registered already.  Join us at First United Church in Uptown Waterloo where we will have speakers from Walkerton and other water experts discussing Bill 66 and its potential impacts.  You can register now for free at Eventbrite:

https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/our-water-our-future-tickets-54808634100 <https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/our-water-our-future-tickets-54808634100>

8) Other Organizations Opposing Bill 66 - It has been fantastic to see all the major farming organizations come out with very strong submissions opposing Bill 66 and now the Ontario Professional Planners Institute has done a survey of thousands of its members.  They report that “An overwhelming majority of respondents (77% of Professional Planners) somewhat or strongly oppose the Bill 66 planning by-law tool”.  I have attached their submission below:

Please share any thoughts or ideas and lets keep seeing what we can do to oppose Bill 66 and defend our strong local protections!

Cheers,
Kevin.

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How to contact MPPs, Waterloo Region and Guelph
General information about MPPs and how the legislature functions

www.ola.org/en/get-involved/contct-mpp <http://www.ola.org/en/get-involved/contct-mpp>
This site gives general information about MPPs, the Ontario Legislative Assembly (that’s the “ola” in provincial websites) and how it works, and suggestions about how to contact MPPs.  It also mentions the standing committees of the OLA, the bills they are considering, and how to register if you want to appear before them.  So far, Bill 66 is not mentioned under any of the committee postings.

Michael Harris Jr, Kitchener-Conestoga, Progressive Conservative Party

Toronto:  tel 416 326-6945, fax 416 326-6942 

Rm 434, Main Legislative Bldg, Queen’s Park M7A 1A8  

Constituency office:  Unit 3 and 4, 63 Arthur St. S., Elmira, N3B 2M6

                  Mike.harrisco at pc.ola.org <mailto:Mike.harrisco at pc.ola.org>
                  Tel 519 669-2090, fax 519 669-0476

Amy Fee, Kitchener South – Hespeler, Progressive Conservative Party

Toronto:  Hepburn Block, 6th floor, 80 Grosvenor, Toronto, M7A 1E9

                  Tel:  416 325-1128

Constituency:  Unit 4, 4281 King St. E., Kitchener N2P 2E9

                  Amy.fee at pc.ola.org <mailto:Amy.fee at pc.ola.org>
                  Tel 519 650-9413, fax 519 650-7006

Belinda Karahalios, Cambridge, Progressive Conservative

Toronto:  Hepburn Block, 6th floor, 80 Grosvenor St., Toronto, M7A 1E9

                  Tel. 416 325-1793

                  Belinda.karahalios at pc.ola.org <mailto:Belinda.karahalios at pc.ola.org>
Constituency:  498 Eagle St. N., Cambridge N3H 1C2

                  Tel 519 650-2770, fax 519 650-3918

Catherine Fife, Waterloo, New Democratic Party

Toronto:  Room 154, Main Legislative Building, Queen’s Park, Toronto M7A 1A5

                  Tel 416 325-6913, fax 416 325-6942

Constituency:  Suite 220 100 Regina St. S, Waterloo N2J 4P9 (office is in City Hall Bldg)

                  For legislative issues: Cfife-QP at ndp.on.ca <mailto:Cfife-QP at ndp.on.ca>
                  For community issues: cfife-co at ndp.on.ca <mailto:cfife-co at ndp.on.ca>
                  Tel 519 725-3477, fax 519 725-3667 

Laura Mae Lindo, Kitchener Centre, New Democratic Party

Toronto:  Room 170, Main Legislative Building, Queen’s Park, Toronto, M7A 1A5

                  Tel 416 326-7221, fax 416 326-7217

Constituency: Suite 212, 25 Frederick St.,  Kitchener, N2H 6M8

                  For legislative issues:  LLindo-QP at ndp.on.ca <mailto:LLindo-QP at ndp.on.ca>
                  For community issues: LLindo at ndp.on.ca <mailto:LLindo at ndp.on.ca>
                  Tel 519 579-5460, fax 519 579-2121

Mike Schreiner, Guelph, Green Party

Toronto:  Room 451, Main Legislative Building, Queen’s Park, Toronto M7A 1A2

                  Tel 416 325-4664, fax 416 325-4666    Mschreiner at ola.org <mailto:Mschreiner at ola.org>
Constituency:  173 Woolwich St., Guelph N1H 3V4

                  Mschreiner-co at ola.org <mailto:Mschreiner-co at ola.org>   

Tel 519 836-4190, fax 519 836-4191

Premier’s Office   Call 416 325-1941 and leave a short message re your concerns about Bill 66

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Kevin Thomason
Vice-Chair, Grand River Environmental Network

Phone: (519) 888-0519
Mobile Phone/WhatsApp: (519) 240-1648
Twitter: @kthomason
E-mail: kevinthomason at mac.com <mailto:kevinthomason at mac.com>

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