[All] Bill 23 Meeting Follow-up and Update

Tue Nov 29 10:46:17 EST 2022

Good Day,  

By the time you read this - you will have heard: Bill 23 was passed yesterday around noon: Ontario passes housing bill amid criticism from cities, conservation authorities | The Star

But don't despair - as we need to support each other as the Bill 23 regulations are still being developed, since the Greenbelt regulatory change consultation closes on December 4th and another nasty Bill is making its way through the legislature, Bill 39. 

And the media keeps printing more articles and editorials that seek answers to the travesty we're currently dealing with:

https://www.thestar.com/politics/provincial/2022/11/28/ford-government-defends-ontario-greenbelt-land-swap-that-benefits-pc-donors.html

And the Globe and Mail also delved into developers' land grab: 

Developers who bought Ontario Greenbelt land linked to Ford government - The Globe and Mail
A particular reveal in this article is developer Sylvio DeGasperis' taking a $100M loan from CIBC at 21% interest rate. No one would take a loan at such a dismal rate without being fairly confident that the speculative purchase on the Greenbelt wouldn't pan out in short order. 

Developers who bought Ontario Greenbelt land linked to Ford government - The Globe and Mail

And the amount of organizing and increasing collaborations is outstanding! Whereas last week, we were seeing a few dozen protesters at rallies, we're seeing hundreds in the last few days in Oakville, Hamilton and even North Simcoe! Over 30 rallies are planned for this coming weekend. 

Thanks to everyone who joined the update call on Friday.  It was great to see so many people across the Grand River Watershed working to stop these provincial actions.

To recap what we covered:

 1) Municipalities across Ontario are standing up to Bill 23 - not only asking for more time but coming out against the bill while also releasing some staggering cost estimates of how negatively it could impact their respective budgets.  I have yet to see any municipality come out in favour of Bill 23.  It will be interesting to see if Doug Ford chooses his developer buddies over every elected municipal official in the province.

2) Bill 23 Committee Adjustments - it seems that there were astoundingly few updates or adjustments made to Bill 23 in Committee and the Conservatives adjourned the meetings 3 hours ahead of schedule to start their weekend early.  One somewhat positive news was the admission that Green Development Standards may be less impacted than originally thought though the Conservatives have made it clear they plan to bring in their own Green Standards which given their environmental track record to date is very troubling news.

Unfortunately, there was no progress on housing affordability or so many other troubling aspects of this bill.

3) Lawn Signs - Mike reporting fantastic progress on lawn signs with hundreds distributed already, hundreds more being sought and thousands being produced. We have now distributed over 1300 lawn signs with another 1000 to be distributed by December 4th.  Sign captains have been created for every area as follows:

	Guelph Downtown - Anne Moore
	Guelph South - Al Dejong
	Centre Wellington  - Peter Varty
	Brantford - Joan Faux
	Cambridge - Jenna from RARE
	Kitchener - Cathy Scott
	Waterloo - David Lubell
	Elmira - Sandra Bray
	Wilmot - Dorothy Wilson
        Wellesley - Linda Lackey

Please reach out if you would like a sign or can help with distribution, etc.

4) December 3rd and 4th Weekend of Action - There are many dozens of protests, rally’s, literature drops, petition signings and other events being planned for this coming weekend around Ontario.

Locally we are planning the following events:

	- Elora- Ted Arnott’s Riding - Sunday, Dec. 4th at 1pm

	- Brantford - Will Booma’s Riding - Saturday, December 3rd at 2pm

	- Cambridge - Brian Riddell’s Riding -Saturday, Dec 3rd at noon

	- Kitchener - Jess Dixon’s Riding - Sunday, December 4th at 1pm

	- Elmira - Mike Harris Jr’s Riding - Sat, Dec 3rd from 10am to 12:30 (canvas)

        - Guelph - Rally close to downtown - Sunday, December 4th at 11am. 

We hope that you can have fun making some creative signs and then join us for as many of these events as possible.  It is incredible to see the momentum and activity building across Ontario. Attached, please find posters created by the very talented Joan Faux for each of the rallies! Please share and distribute through your networks. 

5) Radio Ads - good progress continue to happen with our radio ad production as copy is being finalized, radio airtime purchases completed and recording hopefully starting early this coming week with ads airing before the weekend.  Thank you to everyone who has contributed so far and please direct others to the fundraising site where all our donations are being doubled by the Small Change Fund:

	https://smallchangefund.ca/project/protect-the-greenbelt-and-visionary-regional-planning-in-the-grand-river-watershed/

6) Media coverage - it’s great to see so much coverage continuing in all the newspapers.  Please keep writing Letters to the Editor and Op-Ed pieces as they can really help to inform the public.

It has been nice to see Margaret Atwood start speaking out against Bill 23 and Doug Ford - below are links to her first two articles in what she is promising is going to be an ongoing series:

Margaret Atwood - https://open.substack.com/pub/margaretatwood/p/premier-ford-this-is-for-your-own?

- https://open.substack.com/pub/margaretatwood/p/the-peasants-are-revolting? A good read and rather cathartic if I may say so! 

Thanks for all the great efforts so far.  Please share any questions or ideas.

Cheers,

Mike Marcolongo and Kevin Thomason on behalf of all our community groups speaking up.

——————————————-

Friday, December 2nd - 5:30pm - Next group Zoom Update/Planning Meeting - https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82644695701?pwd=bnRsUGtWSUcrRnFWR21uYVBISG9jZz09

Sunday, December 4th - Deadline for submissions to the Environmental Registry of Ontario - https://ero.ontario.ca/notice/019-6216

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Speak Up and Ensure Your Voice is Heard:

Premier Doug Ford - doug.fordco at pc.ola.org or 416-325-1941
Steve Clark - Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing - steve.clark at pc.ola.org or 416-585-7214
David Piccini - Minster of Environment, Conservation and Parks - david.piccini at pc.ola.org or 905-372-4000
Todd Smith - Minister of Energy - todd.smith at pc.ola.org or 613-962-1144
Michael Parsa - Associate Minister of Housing - michael.parsaco at pc.ola.org

Local Conservative MPPs:
Mike Harris Jr - MPP Kitchener-Conestoga - mike.harris at pc.ola.org or 519-669-2090
Brian Riddell - MPP Cambridge - brian.riddell at pc.ola.org or 519-650-2770
Jess Dixon - MPP Kitchener South - jess.dixon at pc.ola.org or 519-650-9413

Local NDP MPPs:
Catherine Fife - MPP Waterloo - cfife-qp at ndp.on.ca or 519-725-3477
Laura Mae Lindo - MPP Kitchener Centre - llindo-qp at ndp.on.ca or 519-579-5460

Or use the Hold The Line Waterloo Region engagement engine to automatically address and send an e-mail you help to draft: www.holdthelinewr.org

------------------------

Kevin Thomason

Phone: (519) 888-0519
Mobile Phone: (519) 240-1648
E-mail: kevinthomason at mac.com

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