Ford Government’s Plan to Gut Role of Conservation Authorities May Be Getting More Media Attention Than The Premier and Company Bargained For
A Statement from the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority (NPCA)
Posted November 23rd, 2020 on Niagara At Large
MEDIA COVERAGE ON (Ford Government”s BILL 229 & CONSERVATION AUTHORITIES
Niagara, Ontario – The Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority takes this opportunity to thank members of the media for their dedication to ensuring that our communities are well aware of the potential impacts that Bill 229 will have on conservation authorities across Ontario.
Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority’s board in session in early 2019 . File photo by Doug Draper
These proposed changes to the Conservation Authorities Act will greatly impact the NPCA’s role in land use planning and will completely change the role of conservation authorities in protecting Ontario’s environment and ensuring people and property are safe from natural hazards.
We are proud to serve and support our community, and are grateful for the amount of support that has been shown.
We thank the following media outlets and journalists:
National Observer
Newstalk 610 CKTB
Niagara At Large
https://niagaraatlarge.com/2020/11/13/action-alert-we-need-our-conservation-authorities/
Niagara This Week
https://www.niagarathisweek.com/news-story/10266047-province-to-strip-npca-of-citizen-appointments/
Toronto Star
Niagara Dailies
The Voice of Pelham
Water Canada
CBC News
A Footnote from Doug Draper at Niagara At Large –
The move by Ontario Premier Doug Ford and his Conservative government to use their recently tabled 2020 Budget to gut the role of Conservation Authorities with respect to services as critical as flood management, watershed protection and preservation, science-based input on development proposal, and to purge all citizen members from Conservation Authority boards is nothing less than an act of vandalism.
It tells us that the Ford government and its members, including Niagara West MPP Sam Oosterhoff who has embraced Ford’s talking points on this, could care less about protecting and preserving our natural heritage and are willing to bow to the wishes of the worst members of the land owner, agricultural and development industry communities.
This past November 19th, the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority’s board of directors expressed their concern over this outrageous move to rape Conservation Authorities across Ontario of a more than half-century role in conservation and environmental protection.
To watch a portion of a November 19th, 2020 NPCA meeting, including some strong opening comments from Brad Clark, who also serves on Hamilton’s City Council and who once served as a Conservative Party MPP and a cabinet minister in the former Conservative government of Mike Harris, click on the screen immediately below –
https://youtube.com/watch?v=nwuXvSdiceQ%3Fstart%3D9015
I urge you all to contact your Ontario MPPs and your Regional and Local Councillors in Niagara and other regions of this province to call on them to oppose this effort by the Ford government to let the rogues in the development industry to have what is left of our woodlands, wetlands, food-growing lands and all of what is left of our precious biodiversity and natural heritage.
There are plenty of places inside existing urban boundaries and where their are no environmentally sensitive features for developers who have imagination and care for the future to build away.
-
Doug Draper, Niagara At Large
NIAGARA AT LARGE Encourages You To Join The Conversation By Sharing Your Views On This Post In The Space Following The Bernie Sanders Quote Below.
Niagara At Large 