<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class="">Thanks for all the responses, feedback and ideas with regards to yesterday’s announcement with no warning of Bill 66 to rollback, eliminate and dilute so many environmental and other protections Ontarians rely on. <div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">The implications of this bill are being better understood and the impacts could be even more far-reaching than initially thought. </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Here is the well written story by James Jackson that will be in tomorrows Record newspaper:</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><a href="https://www.therecord.com/news-story/9073195-municipalities-could-bypass-provincial-safeguards-under-new-bill/" class="">https://www.therecord.com/news-story/9073195-municipalities-could-bypass-provincial-safeguards-under-new-bill/</a></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">There has been a flurry of information shared all day on Twitter and here are some of the other media stories and releases that are starting to emerge on it and other recent environmental rollbacks by the province:</div><div class=""><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><a href="https://www.cela.ca/blog/2018-12-07/deregulation-redux-Ont-envl-laws-under-attack-again" class="">https://www.cela.ca/blog/2018-12-07/deregulation-redux-Ont-envl-laws-under-attack-again</a></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><a href="https://tvo.org/article/current-affairs/tories-bill-could-punch-factory-sized-holes-in-the-greenbelt" class="">https://tvo.org/article/current-affairs/tories-bill-could-punch-factory-sized-holes-in-the-greenbelt</a></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><a href="https://www.pembina.org/media-release/ontario-government-disappoints-broken-promises-greenbelt-protection" class="">https://www.pembina.org/media-release/ontario-government-disappoints-broken-promises-greenbelt-protection</a></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><a href="https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/2018/12/05/ontarios-climate-change-plan-is-too-little-too-late.html" class="">https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/2018/12/05/ontarios-climate-change-plan-is-too-little-too-late.html</a><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Seldom is Steve Paikin at a loss for words but watch him stumble in his interview with Ontario Environmental Commissioner Dianne Saxe airing on The Agenda at 8pm and 11pm tonight:</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><a href="https://twitter.com/TheAgenda/status/1071140522624999424/video/1" class="">https://twitter.com/TheAgenda/status/1071140522624999424/video/1</a></div><div class=""><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div class="">The City of Burlington issued a statement this afternoon stating that they don’t support Bill 66 and stand firm in their commitment to the Greenbelt and all other legislation targetted in the bill:</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><a href="https://www.burlington.ca/en/Modules/News/index.aspx?feedId=0b11ae3a-b049-4262-8ca4-762062555538&newsId=65e8238d-b81b-4f14-978c-2f1f5f19eeb0" class="">https://www.burlington.ca/en/Modules/News/index.aspx?feedId=0b11ae3a-b049-4262-8ca4-762062555538&newsId=65e8238d-b81b-4f14-978c-2f1f5f19eeb0</a></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Local community groups here in Waterloo Region are discussing approaching our municipal councils and Regional Council for similar statements stating they support our strong environmental protections as well as other regulations being targetted and that they will refuse to seek ministerial exemptions or bypass provincial safeguards under Bill 66.</div><div class=""><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div class="">Strong communications about our concerns to area MPPs and the Premier are going to be needed in the weeks ahead until the legislature resumes sitting in February. Environmental Defence has already set-up a site to e-mail your concerns to the provincial government:</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><a href="https://act.environmentaldefence.ca/page/35250/action/1" class="">https://act.environmentaldefence.ca/page/35250/action/1</a></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Please make sure your voice is heard and share any ideas in the meantime.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Thanks,</div><div class="">Kevin.</div><div class="">
<div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><br class="">-------------------------------------<br class=""><br class="">Kevin Thomason<br class=""><br class="">1115 Cedar Grove Road<br class="">Waterloo, Ontario Canada N2J 3Z4<br class=""><br class="">Phone: (519) 888-0519<br class="">Mobile Phone/WhatsApp: (519) 240-1648<br class="">Twitter: @kthomason<br class="">E-mail: <a href="mailto:kevinthomason@mac.com" class="">kevinthomason@mac.com</a><br class=""><br class="">-----------------------------------------</div></div>
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<br class=""><div><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class="">On Dec 6, 2018, at 8:14 PM, Kevin Thomason <<a href="mailto:kevinthomason@mac.com" class="">kevinthomason@mac.com</a>> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div class=""><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8" class=""><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div class="">Hi GREN folks,</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">You might have heard about Bill 66 that was released today by Doug Ford’s Provincial Government which plans to allow municipalities to override the Greenbelt Act, the Planning Act, the Clean Water Act, the Great Lakes Protection Act, the Oak Ridges Moraine Act, the Lake Simcoe Act, the Places to Grow Act, and many other important protections without even a public meeting under the guise of “Opening Ontario for Business”.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Needless to say this is extremely disturbing and the consequences could be very far-reaching. </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Below is an e-mail from the Ontario Greenbelt Alliance of which GREN is a member with further information and actions you can take to speak up and provide feedback to the Ford government.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">I’ve already had reporters reaching out and we will have to see how things unfold. Please share any information and we will see what can be done to try to guide things accordingly to ensure that the environment and natural resources that we all depend on in Ontario are protected to the fullest extent possible.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Thanks,</div><div class="">Kevin.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">---------------------------</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Good Afternoon OGA members, </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">It is a challenging time for Greenbelt supporters. Today the government of Ontario introduced what they call an economic development tool, an open for business planning bylaw (regulation) which would exempt major economic development projects, major employment uses from planning and environmental laws. </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><p class="MsoNormal">MMAH/Planning Act changes in <a href="https://www.ola.org/en/legislative-business/bills/parliament-42/session-1/bill-66" target="_blank" class="">Bill 66</a>, Restoring Ontario's Competitiveness Act allows municipalities, with ministerial approval, to pass “Open For Business” bylaws that allow municipalities to bypass various planning statutes, including the Greenbelt Act, which Ford had promised to leave intact. Schedule 10 of the Bill amends the Planning Act, section 34.1 to allow municipalities to pass open for business planning by-laws. </p><p class="MsoNormal"><br class=""></p><p class="MsoNormal">The “Open for Business” zoning bylaw would be enacted by a municipality. Provisions in the legislation exempt municipalities to conform to aspects of the Planning Act, Great Lakes Protection Act, Clean Water Act, Greenbelt Act, Oak Ridges Moraine Act, Lake Simcoe Protection Act, the Places to Grow Act among others. Perhaps most disturbing is the provision that allows a project to proceed without a public meeting. Once the municipality has the Minister's approval they can move ahead. </p><p class="MsoNormal"><br class=""></p><p class="MsoNormal">Breaking the promise not to open up the Greenbelt shows a disrespect to voters. It also puts the health of farmers and rural landowners at risk. Just this week the Neptis Foundation released a report calling for a regional vision for the GGH. The health of our region depends on valuing our farms, forests, clean water sources and nature. </p><p class="MsoNormal"><br class=""></p><p class="MsoNormal">Submissions on the regulation are to be made by January 20th and can be sent to the Environmental Registry of Ontario, <a href="https://ero.ontario.ca/notice/013-4239" target="_blank" class="">https://ero.ontario.ca/notice/013-4239</a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br class=""></p><p class="MsoNormal">We will be developing a submission in response to this legislation which will be passing along for your use and endorsement. In the coming weeks we will be in contact with a date for an all member OGA meeting. </p><p class="MsoNormal"><br class=""></p><p class="MsoNormal">Please use social media, letter to the editor, etc. to let people in your community and network know about this promise about to be broken by the Ford government. </p><p class="MsoNormal"><br class=""></p><p class="MsoNormal">Yours in continued Greenbelt Protection, <br class=""></p><br class="gmail-Apple-interchange-newline"></div><div class=""><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr" class=""><div dir="ltr" class=""><div dir="ltr" class=""><div dir="ltr" class=""><div dir="ltr" class=""><div dir="ltr" class=""><div dir="ltr" class=""><div dir="ltr" class=""><div dir="ltr" class=""><div dir="ltr" class=""><div dir="ltr" class=""><div dir="ltr" class=""><div dir="ltr" class=""><div dir="ltr" class=""><div dir="ltr" class=""><div class=""><span lang="en-ca" class=""><font face="Verdana" size="1" class="">Susan Lloyd Swail, MES Pl. RPP<br class=""></font></span></div><div class=""><span lang="en-ca" class=""><font face="Verdana" size="1" class="">Senior Manager, Livable Communities</font></span></div></div><div dir="ltr" class=""><img src="http://environmentaldefence.ca/sites/default/themes/envirod/logo.png" width="200" height="70" class="" style="font-size: 12.8px;"><br class=""></div><div dir="ltr" class=""><p dir="LTR" class=""><span lang="en-ca" class=""></span><span lang="en-ca" class=""></span><b class=""><span class="" style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);"></span></b></p><p class="" style="margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span class="" style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">116 Spadina Avenue, Suite 300, Toronto, ON, M5V 2K6 | 416-323-9521, ext. 224<br class="">Twitter:</span><span class="" style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);"> @<a href="http://twitter.com/envirodefence" target="_blank" class="">envirodefence</a></span><span class="" style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> | Facebook:</span><span class="" style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);"> <a href="http://facebook.com/EnvironmentalDefenceCanada" target="_blank" class="">EnvironmentalDefenceCanada</a><b class=""><br class=""></b></span><b class=""><span class="" style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Defending clean water, a safe c</span></b><b class=""><span class="" style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">l</span></b><b class=""><span class="" style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">imate and healthy communities.</span></b><span class="" style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);"> </span><span class="" style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);"><br class=""></span><b class=""><span class="" style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125); background-color: white;">Check out our new website: <a href="http://environmentaldefence.ca/" target="_blank" class="">EnvironmentalDefence.ca</a></span></b></p><div class=""><b class=""><span id="cid:25AAF01B-52E2-4BE1-B92C-F27FAFD3DB63"><Screen Shot 2018-12-06 at 6.50.47 PM.png></span></b></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="">
<div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;" class=""><br class="">-------------------------------------<br class=""><br class="">Kevin Thomason<br class=""><br class="">1115 Cedar Grove Road<br class="">Waterloo, Ontario Canada N2J 3Z4<br class=""><br class="">Phone: (519) 888-0519<br class="">Mobile Phone/WhatsApp: (519) 240-1648<br class="">Twitter: @kthomason<br class="">E-mail: <a href="mailto:kevinthomason@mac.com" class="">kevinthomason@mac.com</a><br class=""><br class="">-----------------------------------------</div></div></div></div></div></blockquote></div><br class=""></div></body></html>