<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><b class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>c) North Dumfries Township - Monday, January 21st, 7:00pm </b>- please come out and join us Monday night at North Dumfries Council Chambers as we work to get the 8th and final resolution against Bill 66 from our last remaining local municipality. Hopefully, we will be able to tell Queen’s Park that all of Waterloo Region is united and strongly opposes Bill 66.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><b class="">2) Stewards of Our Future: Protecting What We Love</b> - Hundreds of people came out last night to hear ECO Dianne Saxe give an incredible presentation about Climate Change and the challenges before us. It was wonderful to see so many different community groups in attendance, so many interesting displays, hear such great questions, and engage in a community discussion about the need for each of us to speak up more and do all that we can.</div><div class="">Thanks to Laura Hamilton and the team at Divest Waterloo along with so many others who worked day and night to rapidly pull together this massive undertaking.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">I have attached some photos below. You can also watch a recording of the event and share it with others who may not have been able to attend at:</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><a href="https://www.facebook.com/divestwr/videos/356227264929627/" class="">https://www.facebook.com/divestwr/videos/356227264929627/</a></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><b class="">3) Our Water Our Future - Thursday, Feb 7th 7:00pm </b>- Tickets are now available for our second speakers event to follow-up the incredible success and turnout for last night's ECO Dianne Saxe event. 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:</div><div class=""><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;"><br class=""></div><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;"><a href="https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/our-water-our-future-tickets-54808634100" class="">https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/our-water-our-future-tickets-54808634100</a></div><div class=""><br class=""></div></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><b class="">4) Growth for Growth - Tomorrow! - Thursday, Jan 17th - 6:30pm - </b>Join the Food System Round Table of Waterloo Region, Open Food Network Canada and others at this discussion of Sustainable Urban Development and Agricultural Protections in Waterloo Region. It sounds like it will be a great event:</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/1176927062458374/" class="">https://www.facebook.com/events/1176927062458374/</a></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><b class="">5) Recent Press Coverage</b> - Watch a short clip from CTV CKCO News about the City of Cambridge opposition to Bill 66 last night:</div><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><b class=""><br class=""></b></div><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><a href="https://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=1587600&binId=1.1147261" class="">https://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=1587600&binId=1.1147261</a></div><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div class=""><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><b class="">6) More Concerning Announcements from the Provincial Government -</b> yesterday the provincial government announced two new initiatives that could be quite concerning to our communities:</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><b class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>a) Proposed Changes to the Greater Golden Horseshoe Growth Plan -</b> the province is proposing changes to the Growth Plan under the guise of increasing housing supply that will allow more urban sprawl, reduce density targets, facilitate employment sprawl, remove land needs assessment processes, and allow municipalities to expand settlement boundaries into rural areas. It also could make aspects of Bill 66 even worse.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><a href="https://news.ontario.ca/mma/en/2019/01/ontario-to-help-increase-housing-supply-attract-investment-and-protect-jobs-in-the-greater-golden-ho.html" class="">https://news.ontario.ca/mma/en/2019/01/ontario-to-help-increase-housing-supply-attract-investment-and-protect-jobs-in-the-greater-golden-ho.html</a></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><b class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>b) Review of Regional Governments -</b> the province also announced a plan to review 8 regional governments including Halton Region, York Region, Durham Region, Peel Region, Niagara Region, Muskoka District, Oxford County, Simcoe County, and Waterloo Region. This could include amalgamation, new efficiencies, and new governance. Given the success of Waterloo Region, our local municipalities and the great quality of life we enjoy there could be a lot at stake here for us - particularly given previous amalgamations and reforms have not gone well in many areas.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-regional-government-review-1.4978949" class="">https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-regional-government-review-1.4978949</a></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><a href="https://www.newhamburgindependent.ca/news-story/9126851--if-it-s-not-broke-don-t-fix-it-local-politicians-respond-to-review-of-regional-governments/" class="">https://www.newhamburgindependent.ca/news-story/9126851--if-it-s-not-broke-don-t-fix-it-local-politicians-respond-to-review-of-regional-governments/</a></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><a href="https://www.therecord.com/opinion-story/9127473-d-amato-fasten-your-seatbelt-amalgamation-is-coming/" class="">https://www.therecord.com/opinion-story/9127473-d-amato-fasten-your-seatbelt-amalgamation-is-coming/</a></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div class=""><b class="">7) MPP Calls, Letters and Meetings </b>- Now that almost all of our local Council delegations are complete, successfully getting strong reports and resolutions against Bill 66, it is time to turn more of our focus and attention to our provincial MPP’s. It will be important for groups to try to get meetings with our local MPP’s - in particular our Conservative MPP’s. We also need our Members of Provincial Parliament to continue to hear from citizens with your concerns about Bill 66. Phone calls can be especially effective, so can dropping by their offices to deliver your letters personally. Here is the contact information and addresses for area MPP’s:</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""></div></div></body></html>