[GREN-Exec] Provincial Consultation to Grow the Greenbelt

Fri Mar 26 11:27:37 EDT 2021

I'm in favour of joining in.  I don't think we'll be taxed much of a role.  When I was working on the conservation authority issue I got to know McCammmon of Headwaters.  The Lake Simcoe area conservation authority is in the headwaters area; I was emphasizing that the GRCA had won the international Theiss Riverprize for river basin management in 2001, and the Lake Simcoe authority won it in 2010.  So Headwaters was taking the lead on organizing a joint, wide-spread  defence of the authorities versus the Ford Thugocracy's plans to knee-cap them.  I really liked the way he handled the zoom meetings.

We're a small bunch, but we could also contact some other area groups like the Council of Canadians, the Nith Valley Group, rare, Waterloo Region Nature's new conservation action committee to inform their membership.  The environmental activists of Brantford are already hooked up with the Guelph coalition and I presume the individuals from Paris are as well.

I think the emphasis should be on the larger issue of overall Greenbelt expansion, not just the Guelph-Paris moraine. We won't know the Region of Waterloo's official response re the moraine greenbelt expansion for another week or so; amajr issue is whether greenbelt expansion into Waterloo Region would compromise our already superior environmental safeguards.

- Greg

________________________________
From: Executive <executive-bounces at gren.ca> on behalf of Kevin Thomason <kevinthomason at mac.com>
Sent: Thursday, March 25, 2021 9:41:15 PM
To: GREN Executive
Subject: Re: [GREN-Exec] Provincial Consultation to Grow the Greenbelt

Hi GREN Executive,

We have been approached by Andrew MacCammon at the Ontario Headwaters Institute to see if we want to partner with them to present a webinar about the proposed provincial Greenbelt expansion for our membership here in Waterloo.

It is an interesting offer that we might want to consider.  They are working with about dozen groups across Ontario to run these webinars in each area.  They would do most of the work, provide the sign-up, Zoom account, follow-up, etc.  All we would have to do is to promote it to our GREN members.  There is an opportunity for us to team up with Ella Haley in Brantford and have their membership join as well in case our numbers are low.  We could also reach out to other local environmental groups to have them join as we see fit.

I have attached information below outlining what they are proposing.  The webinar’s would be presented by Susan Lloyd Swail a professional planner and former co-ordinator of the Ontario Greenbelt Alliance who I have huge respect for.  We would have the opportunity to learn from the earlier OHI webinars to see what might work best here.

We need to respond either yes or no by early next week since time is of the essence.  Please share any thoughts or ideas.  In my opinion I think it might be good for us to participate since it would require little effort from us and could help to engage folks in our area who otherwise are likely going to miss out on much of the Greenbelt expansion discussion.

Cheers,
Kevin.

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Begin forwarded message:

From: Ontario Headwaters Institute <andrew at ontarioheadwaters.ca<mailto:andrew at ontarioheadwaters.ca>>
Subject: Provincial Consultation to Grow the Greenbelt
Date: March 22, 2021 at 11:55:33 AM EDT
To: kevinthomason at mac.com<mailto:kevinthomason at mac.com>, John Jackson <jjackson at web.ca<mailto:jjackson at web.ca>>
Reply-To: andrew at ontarioheadwaters.ca<mailto:andrew at ontarioheadwaters.ca>

Dear Kevin and John,

As we’ve discussed, the OHI has received a grant from the Greenbelt Foundation to help facilitate public engagement on the Grow the Greenbelt consultation.

We have lots to share, below, and write at this time to invite your organization to be involved in one of 12 webinars that we will stage from March 30 to April 18, as per the dates below.

The project is called Growing the Greenbelt 2012: Regional Resilience, and it will be delivered through our WaterScape program, which requires partnerships with others. Key issues about the webinars include:

  *   We anticipate about 6 or more webinars to be delivered on a geographic basis with regional partners;
  *   There will also be about 6 or fewer webinars to be delivered through provincial coalitions such as the Ontario Environment Network, the Ontario Greenbelt Alliance, and Yours to Protect;
  *   All 12 webinar dates will be posted to a web page under development and, to accommodate individual schedules, anyone will be able to register for any of the 12 webinars;
  *   The webinars will take people through the key issues in the consultation and invite them to sign on to a submission that will forward their support both to the Environmental Registry and to their MPP;
  *   People will also be able to borrow any parts of the submission they would like if they want to send in their own comments;
  *   We will handle registration through Eventbrite and will handle the Zoom details; and,
  *   We seek your support for any webinar in which you are a part through e-mails to your members as well as via social media.

Other items you might wish to know include:

  *   We are working madly on graphics, a new webpage, all the digital media and webinar registration issues and will have everything ready to go on March 28; and,
  *   While we will have the submission ready for the first webinar on March 30, there will be a few appendices that will not be added until we send in the final sub. Those will include maps from sister organizations, particularly those with whom we are staging webinars, on other areas we suggest be added to the Greenbelt.

Please contact me at your convenience with any questions. I will also be reaching out to you asap.

Yours,

Andrew

Prospective dates for the webinars

March 30, 31, and April 1
April 6, 7, 8, and 11
April 13, 14, 15 and 18

6:50 – sign in and be admitted from waiting room.
Allow stragglers and start no later than 7:05

7:05 – 7:10                                          Welcome from partner organization – GREN
7:10 – 7:20                                          Introduction, Purpose of the webinar, and the agenda  - Andrew
7::20 – 7:45                                         Main Presentation: About the Consultation and main issues – Susan Swale
7:45 –  7:55                                         Regional Resilience submission: how to borrow from it, endorse it   - Andrew

Either
7:55 – 8:15                                          Q&A and thank yous

Or

7:55 – 8:10                                          Second presentation – EG: GREN on their local issues
8:10 – 8:30                                          Q&A and thank yous

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

Kevin Thomason

1115 Cedar Grove Road
Waterloo, Ontario Canada  N2J 3Z4

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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