Great news! Your letters and petitions worked – a testament to the power of community action. The Ontario government has announced that they won’t proceed with the part of Bill 66 (Schedule 10) that threatens our drinking water and the Greenbelt.

Endangered species, Toxic Reduction Act, farmlands still at risk

Let’s not celebrate too soon, though. There is still a lot about Bill 66 and proposed changes to the Growth Plan that is alarming, and that threatens the character and quality of life of our little hamlet and throughout Ontario. For example:

  1. We won’t be sure that the Ontario Government will keep their promise until they officially remove Section 10 from Bill 66 for the Second Reading at the end of February.
  2. Another section of Bill 66 – Schedule 5 – would suspend and later repeal The 2009 Toxics Reduction Act! This sends completely the wrong message to big polluters who could possibly dump toxic chemicals into our beautiful Credit River.
  3. And if that’s not disturbing enough, the provincial government is reviewing Ontario’s Endangered Species Act to make it more business friendly.

Alarming changes to the Growth Plan that threatens the environment and farmland

The government has also proposed changes to the provincial Growth Plan that will end rules that support smartly planned, transit friendly communities.The changes will allow:

  • more low density sprawl
  • urban boundaries to expand onto farmland
  • farmland to be converted to employment lands
  • employment lands to be converted to residential development (even though Bill 66 is motivated by the Ontario Government’s claim that there isn’t enough employment land!)
  • the removal of climate change as an issue to address in municipal plans.

These changes will put farmland at risk and will not solve the problem of affordable housing. What they will do is open up lands – especially farmlands – that need to be off limits to developers.

What can we do to make our objections heard? Let’s use the people power of Hamlets!

Public Information Meeting – February 7th in Belfountain

The Glen Williams Community Association is working in tangent with the Belfountain Community Organization to host community information meetings over the next few months. Please attend and become informed; let’s not allow these changes to be approved without comment.

The first meeting is at 7PM on Thursday, February 7th at the The Belfountain School Gymnasium, 17247 Shaws Creek Road (South of Bush Street) in Caledon.  The guest speaker is Tim Gray, Executive Director of Environmental Defence, who will help us understand the environmental impacts of Bill 66 as well as the Province’s focus on the Places to Grow Act, 2005. We look forward to seeing you there!

Please rsvp; the school gym only holds 200 people! Send an email to rsvp@belfountain.ca

Why the urgency for you to become informed?  The public comment period on the massive changes to the Growth Plans ends on February 28th!