[All] Monday's ROMA Rally, Bill 23, Greenbelt and Regional Planning Update
Kevin Thomason
kevinthomason at mac.com
Sun Jan 22 17:18:48 EST 2023
Good Day,
1) ROMA Rally - A reminder about the Rally at the ROMA Conference tomorrow (Monday Jan 23rd) at noon (12:00pm) at the Sheraton Conference Centre, 123 Queen Street West - across from Nathan Phillips Square in Toronto. This is a unique opportunity to be able to reach the Premier, Cabinet, and hundreds of municipal elected officials who will be attending the Rural Ontario Municipalities Association event.
There will be speakers at the Rally as follows:
Janet Horner - Mayor for the Township of Mulmur
Jane Fogal - Councillor, Town of Halton Hills
Colin Best - President, Association of Municipalities of Ontario
Mike Schreiner - Leader, Green Party of Ontario
Marit Stiles - Leader-elect, NDP
Mary-Margaret McMahon - Liberal MPP for Beaches-East York
Margaret Prophet - Executive Director, Simcoe County Greenbelt Coalition
We’ve already had more than 150 people register to attend the rally and Mike reports that things are busy at the ROMA event already today. It should be well worth the effort to get to Toronto and GO Trains from Kitchener and Guelph have schedules that align well with the timing of the event. Please also share news of this event with anyone you know in Toronto who could easily attend on their lunch hour.
2) New Meeting Timing - Thanks to everyone who made it to our Friday at 5:30pm update meeting. As we mentioned there are already events happening every day this coming week so we are going to move to an every-other-week meeting format for our Fridays at 5:30pm meetings so we don’t burn people out. Also, this way you can at least have some fun Friday nights too this winter.
3) Recent Media Articles - there has been numerous great articles released over the weekend as the flood of media coverage continues:
This excellent TVO articles reminds us the potential we have to ensure that the Greenbelt investigation is an ongoing nightmare for the Conservatives:
https://www.tvo.org/article/the-greenbelt-investigation-is-a-political-nightmare-for-the-tories
https://www.thestar.com/politics/provincial/2023/01/20/doug-ford-confident-no-developers-were-tipped-off-to-greenbelt-changes.html
The amazing Narwhal reports how the government worked over the holiday to strip Conservation Authority powers with only 72 hours notice:
https://thenarwhal.ca/ontario-strips-conservation-authority-powers/
The Narwhal also reports on the Rollercoaster of Non-Stop News in Ontario:
https://thenarwhal.ca/newsletter-ontario-event-greenbelt-investigation/
https://www.kingstonist.com/news/the-devil-is-in-the-details-protest-against-bill-23-planned-for-jan-21/
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2023/01/19/greenbelt-council-does-about-face-on-safeguarding-protected-lands-with-hazel-mccallion-at-the-helm.html
An excellent article from ALO member Mark Winfield on the false premises that Ford is basing these devastating actions on:
https://theconversation.com/has-ontarios-housing-plan-been-built-on-a-foundation-of-evidentiary-sand-198133
4) Municipal Actions Against Bill 23 - The City of Richmond Hill has called a Special Council Meeting on Monday, January 30th at 1:30pm to focus on Bill 23:
https://www.richmondhill.ca/en/our-services/Council-Meetings-Agendas-and-Minutes.aspx
The Town of Aurora has unanimously passed another motion against Bill 23 (please also see the great article in the Toronto Star from Aurora Mayor Tom Mrakasis below), and some of our membership have presented the motion attached below to the Township of Woolwich to see if they would consider adopting it in the weeks ahead. Lets be sure to do all that we can with every area municipality to push back against all this dreadful provincial destruction.
5) TVO Ontario Monday Night - Mary-Margaret McMahon, Liberal MPP introduces Private Members Bill against flooding, Watch her on TVO’s The Agenda on Monday at 8pm to learn more about it and Bill 23:
https://twitter.com/marymargaretbey/status/1616524737047396385?s=20&t=XbfWmNLH2lRZHMRiuXSMKw <https://twitter.com/marymargaretbey/status/1616524737047396385?s=20&t=XbfWmNLH2lRZHMRiuXSMKw>
6) COWA - The Coalition of Ontario Watershed Alliances - Andrew McCammon gave good over view on Friday night of this new provincial organization based on watershed based planning. Details can be found in the PDF below.
7) Alliance for a Liveable Ontario All Member Meeting - Tuesday, January 24th at 4:00pm please join the more than 600 people who have registered to help build the Alliance to stop Ford’s disastrous agenda, share information, and take action. If you haven’t registered there is still time:
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_nQvWyrV2TVWQvdUWkTPlaA <https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_nQvWyrV2TVWQvdUWkTPlaA>
8) Environmental Defence What’s Next Meeting - Get updates on the OPP investigation and learn what is next for Bill 23 and the Greenbelt on Wednesday, January 25th at 7:00pm from Environmental Defence and partners. A poster is attached below. Register at:
https://act.environmentaldefence.ca/page/120535/petition/1 <https://act.environmentaldefence.ca/page/120535/petition/1>
9) Narwhal Greenbelt Webinar - ensuring that there is an activity for every day of the upcoming week the Narwhal is organizing an amazing sounding event called Appetite for Construction - The PC’s and OG (Ontario Greenbelt) on Thursday, Jan 26th at 6pm:
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/3516741593302/WN_7Kv52JcYQtK_VnxLHoGXIw
10) Rally’s and Protests - Numerous additional rallies and protests are being planned for the weeks ahead in Toronto including a Welcome Back February 25th event at Queen’s Park (details below) as well as Owen Sound (Jan 31st), and London (Feb 4th):
Feb 25th 11am - 1pm - Welcome Back Doug Party - https://www.welcomebackdoug.com
Get a complete listing of upcoming rallies at:
https://environmentaldefence.ca/handsoffthegreenbelt/ <https://environmentaldefence.ca/handsoffthegreenbelt/>
11) Local Rally’s - Feb 2nd World Wetlands Day - We have had several people including Hal Jaeger, Colleen Cooper and Lyndsay Dajka step forward to help plan some more local rallies here starting in February. With Feb 2nd being World Wetlands Day we are thinking that there is an opportunity to highlight the dreadful cuts to our Conservation Authorities and ask them not to sell of protected lands to developers as the government is demanding. We are scouting potential locations and would be interested in any ideas you may have.
Please reach out to Hal or Colleen or Mike and Kevin if you are interested in helping or have ideas.
12) Council Watchdogs Needed - We still have some vacant municipalities, please let us know if you can be a Watchdog for your municipality.
13) Next Meeting - we are going to move to an every-other-week format so our next update meeting will be on Friday, February 3rd at 5:30pm. Zoom Update Meeting Dial-in Details:
Topic: Grand River Watershed Bill 23 Weekly Zoom Meeting
Time: Every-other-Friday at 5:30pm EST
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82644695701?pwd=bnRsUGtWSUcrRnFWR21uYVBISG9jZz09 <https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82644695701?pwd=bnRsUGtWSUcrRnFWR21uYVBISG9jZz09>
Meeting ID: 826 4469 5701
Passcode: 713374
One tap mobile
+17806660144,,82644695701#,,,,*713374# Canada
+12042727920,,82644695701#,,,,*713374# Canada
Thanks for all the great efforts so far. Please share any questions or ideas.
Cheers,
Kevin Thomason and Mike Marcolongo on behalf of all our community groups.
P.S. Please remember that more information and great resources can be found at:
- https://www.againstbill23.com
- https://oldeberlintown.ca/information-about-proposed-bill-23/
-----------------------------------
A) Upcoming Events
Monday, January 23rd - 12:00pm - Rally at ROMA - 123 Queen Street West/Across from Nathan Phillips Square
Monday, January 23rd - 8:00pm - TVO Agenda Show on Bill 23 and Flooding
Tuesday, January 24th - 4:00pm - Alliance for Liveable Ontario All Member Call - https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_nQvWyrV2TVWQvdUWkTPlaA <https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_nQvWyrV2TVWQvdUWkTPlaA>
Wednesday, January 25th - 7:00pm - Environmental Defence Webinar - Bill 23 & Greenbelt - What’s Next - https://act.environmentaldefence.ca/page/120535/petition/1 <https://act.environmentaldefence.ca/page/120535/petition/1>
Thursday, January 26th - 6:00pm - Narwhal Webinar - Appetite for Construction - The PCs and the OG - https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/3516741593302/WN_7Kv52JcYQtK_VnxLHoGXIw
Saturday, January 28th - Enough is Enough Provincial events against Doug Ford - https://ofl.ca/event/eie-kickoff/ <https://ofl.ca/event/eie-kickoff/>
Friday, February 3rd - Next 5:30pm Zoom Update Meeting - https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82644695701?pwd=bnRsUGtWSUcrRnFWR21uYVBISG9jZz09
Monday, February 13th - 1:00pm - Planning Meeting for February 25th Queen’s Park Welcome Back Protection Gathering
Saturday, February 25th - Welcome Back Event - Queen’s Park, 11:00am to 1:00pm Rally at the Legislature Lawn
--------------------------------
B) ROMA Rally - Monday
C) What’s Next Webinar - Wednesday
-----------------------------
D) Coalition of Ontario Watershed Alliances (COWA) Overview:
-----------------------------
E) Welcome Back Gathering Saturday, February 25th at Queen’s Park
After a nice long 10-week break, the Ontario House of Legislature gets back to the business of burning Ontario's Healthcare, Education, Environment and Democracy to the ground while failing to meet our collective need for affordable housing, transit, decent wages, an anti-poverty strategy, or a sustainable future. (note, this is not an exhaustive list by any means!)
On February 21 Ontarians are invited to a Protection Gathering where we will sing, chant and dance and work together for a better future. This peaceful and powerful event will tell the Progressive Conservative Party that Ontario demands better. Help us welcome Doug back from his cottage with a cross-sectional gathering of friends.
--------------------------------
F) More Recent Articles
<https://theconversation.com/has-ontarios-housing-plan-been-built-on-a-foundation-of-evidentiary-sand-198133>
Has Ontario’s housing 'plan' been built on a foundation of evidentiary sand? - theconversation.com <https://theconversation.com/has-ontarios-housing-plan-been-built-on-a-foundation-of-evidentiary-sand-198133>
Evidence suggests that Ontario neither had a shortage of pre-authorized housing starts to accommodate its growing population, nor did it have a shortage of designated land to build such homes.
theconversation.com <http://theconversation.com/>
---------------------------------
G) Will Your Municipality Agree to This Motion Against Bill 23?
--------------------------------
H) Speak Up and Ensure Your Voice is Heard:
Premier Doug Ford - doug.fordco at pc.ola.org <mailto:doug.fordco at pc.ola.org> or 416-325-1941
Steve Clark - Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing - steve.clark at pc.ola.org <mailto:steve.clark at pc.ola.org> or 416-585-7214
David Piccini - Minster of Environment, Conservation and Parks - david.piccini at pc.ola.org <mailto:david.paccini at pc.ola.org> or 905-372-4000
Todd Smith - Minister of Energy - todd.smith at pc.ola.org <mailto:todd.smith at pc.ola.org> or 613-962-1144
Michael Parsa - Associate Minister of Housing - michael.parsaco at pc.ola.org <mailto:michael.parsaco at pc.ola.org>
Local Conservative MPPs:
Mike Harris Jr - MPP Kitchener-Conestoga - mike.harris at pc.ola.org <mailto:mike.harris at pc.ola.org> or 519-669-2090
Brian Riddell - MPP Cambridge - brian.riddell at pc.ola.org <mailto:brian.riddell at pc.ola.org> or 519-650-2770
Jess Dixon - MPP Kitchener South - jess.dixon at pc.ola.org <mailto:jess.dixon at pc.ola.org> or 519-650-9413
Local NDP MPPs:
Catherine Fife - MPP Waterloo - cfife-qp at ndp.on.ca <mailto:cfife-qp at ndp.on.ca> or 519-725-3477
Laura Mae Lindo - MPP Kitchener Centre - llindo-qp at ndp.on.ca <mailto: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 <http://www.holdthelinewr.org/>
-------------------------------------
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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