[All] Bill 23, Greenbelt and Regional Planning Update

Thu Jan 26 22:50:57 EST 2023

Good Day,

A reminder that you have this Friday evening off as we move to an every-other-week format for our Friday at 5:30pm update meetings.

It has been a busy week with rallies, webinars, and online events every day of this past week:

1) ROMA Rally - Kudos to the folks from our watershed who made it down to Toronto on Monday for the rally at the Rural Ontario Municipality Association (ROMA) Conference.  Hundreds of people showed up for an energetic rally that was the lead item on Global News, CFTO CTV News, and other media.  Mike Marcolongo did a fantastic job working the hallways inside the conference and even got some good press coverage:

	https://www.municipalworld.com/feature-story/greenbelt-top-of-mind-roma/

	The Globe and Mail also provided good coverage about concerns being raised by rural mayors: 
	https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-rural-mayors-raise-concerns-about-ford-government-housing-plan/

2) Federal Intervention? - Federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault warns that the Canadian government could intervene on Greenbelt development saying that he doesn’t believe the Ontario government’s claims about the need to build homes in the Greenbelt in a surprising interview earlier today:

	https://thenarwhal.ca/steven-guilbeault-ontario-greenbelt/

3) Advance Knowledge - It seems that King Mayor Steve Pellegrini learned about the Greenbelt land removals from developers (The Rice Group) 3 days before Minister Steve Clark shocked us all with the announcements on back on November 4th according to documents obtained through Freedom of Information Requests by Gordon Prentice.  You can read the details of what Gordon has been able to learn so far at:

	https://www.shrinkslessorsquare.ca

4) Recent Media Articles - Other good recent media coverage includes:

	The Toronto Star Editorial Board calls out former Mayor Hazel McCallion:
	https://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/2023/01/26/disappointing-stance-on-greenbelt-development.html

	https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/2022/12/02/minister-clark-is-shamefully-misleading-or-dangerously-ignorant-about-development-charges.html

5) Liberals Call for Greenbelt Investigation - In addition to the investigations already underway, the Ontario Liberal Party has now also requested another formal investigation:

	https://globalnews.ca/news/9430260/ontario-liberals-greenbelt-investigation-request/

6) Local Rally for Wetlands - In support of wetlands, our local Grand River Conservation Authority, and World Wetlands Day local citizens Colleen Cooper, Hal Jaeger, Dave Cooper, Lyndsay Dajka, and Kae Elgie have been busy organizing a rally for Saturday, February 4th at 1:00pm at the Dumfries Conservation Area in Cambridge fronting on busy Hespeler Road/Hwy #24.  They have done an amazing job in just a few days of deciding a date, location, and theme then designing materials, a Facebook site, press release, and starting broad promotion.  

Hopefully you will be able to be creative with some signage and join for an hour rain, snow or shine next Saturday.  A flyer is attached below and you learn more online at:

	https://www.facebook.com/events/731525825076097

7) Margaret Atwood vs. Doug Ford - Renown author Margaret Atwood has continued her excellent series against Doug Ford with the release of the most recent installment of her writings called The Magic Greenbelt - a cartoon:

	https://margaretatwood.substack.com/p/the-magic-greenbelt

8) Broadcasting ERO Comments on Social Media - The tens of thousands of comments submitted to the ERO regarding Bill 23, the Greenbelt and other recent actions are being broadcast on social media by a brilliant automated bot created by Brendan Samuels, the amazing youth leader from London who has frequently joined our update calls.  Brendan is seeking some volunteers to help parse a spreadsheet file and prepare 240 character comments for publishing.  It’s fast and easy so if you have a couple of hours to help out please let me know or reach out to him at: bsamuel2 at uwo.ca

9) 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 <https://www.welcomebackdoug.com/>

Get a complete listing of upcoming rallies at:

	https://environmentaldefence.ca/handsoffthegreenbelt/ <https://environmentaldefence.ca/handsoffthegreenbelt/>

10) Greenbelt Guardians - have a new website coming together.  Check it out and join in protecting lands extracted from the Greenbelt along with watching for urban boundary expansions:

	https://greenbeltguardian.com/about-us/

11) Our 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 Bi-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

Please share any questions or ideas.

Cheers,
Kevin Thomason and Mike Marcolongo on behalf of all our community groups.

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A) Upcoming Events

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 <https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82644695701?pwd=bnRsUGtWSUcrRnFWR21uYVBISG9jZz09>

Saturday, February 4th - Local Rally in Support of Wetlands and Conservation Authorities (see flyer below) - https://www.facebook.com/events/731525825076097

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 - https://www.welcomebackdoug.com <https://www.welcomebackdoug.com/>

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B) Local Rally - World Wetlands Day - Saturday, February 4th, 1pm to 2pm

https://www.facebook.com/events/731525825076097

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C) ERO Broadcast Bot 

Below is a sample of the continuous feed of ERO comments being broadcast on social media - let us know if you can help:

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D) Will Your Municipality Agree to This Motion Against Bill 23?

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E) 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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