Ontario’s Ford Conservatives Now Working to Rip Apart Role of Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority (NPCA) and 35 other CAs Across Province in Environmental Protection
A Call-Out from Ontario Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner to Stop Ford Tories’ War on our Environment
Posted December 1st, 2020 on Niagara At Large
Ontario Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner
Two days ago (this past Sunday, November 29th), I stood on the banks of the Grand River alongside local leaders, to condemn the rollback of flood protections by the Ford government.
The Grand River Conservation Authority (one of 36 Conservation Authorities in Ontario that may have been established at various times later) was formed in the 1930s in direct response to severe flooding.
But now Doug Ford wants to gut the ability of conservation authorities (including the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority in our Niagara watershed) to protect communities from severe flooding, thus taking us back decades in responsible planning.
I’ve asked the government why they are making changes to conservation authorities at a time when climate change is resulting in more frequent and more severe storms.
Their patronizing answer is that they are “helping conservation authorities.”
Defend Conservation Authorities
Conservation authorities, like the GRCA, have made it clear that Schedule 6 of Bill 229 (the Ford government’s 2020 Budget Bill) will give the Minister power to override science-based decisions made by experts.
And others are speaking out too. City councils from Mississauga to Thunder Bay to Oakville are slamming the province. AND NEARLY EIGHT THOUSAND PEOPLE, JUST LIKE YOU.
Because we all know this isn’t about “helping conservation authorities.”
This about the Ford government’s big development agenda in the wrong places and no matter the costs.
What was going through Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s brain in the spring of 2019 when he was touring billions of dollars of flood damage near Ottawa and other eastern parts of the province? We are paying for all of this damage through souring insurance premiums, etc., yet now – on behalf of friendly developers and rural land property interests – he wants to gut Conservation Authorities’ role in flood management. IF HE SUCCEEDS, WE WILL ALL PAY! Tell Ford and his MPPs, including Niagara West MPP Sam Oosterhoff, to kill Schedule 6 in their 2020 Budget Bill. See final link in this post for more information on how you can speak out – Doug Draper, Niagara At Large
And it will be the people of Ontario who pay. It will be us.
We will pay the cost in flooded basements, in increased insurance, and in taxes to pay for infrastructure damage.
Greenbelts and wetlands are part of our natural infrastructure. We should be careful stewards of this infrastructure.
THIS GOVERNMENT HAS IN THE PAST REVERSED COURSE WITH PUBLIC PRESSURE.
Please take a minute today to write your MPP and ask them to do the right thing, and share this with your networks: we only have one chance to protect our Conservation Authorities.
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Thanks, Mike Schreiner, Leader, Green Party of Ontario
For more information on the Green Party of Ontario, click on – https://gpo.ca/ .
To read another recent news commentary Niagara At Large posted on this issue, with information contained in it on how you can speak out to the Ford government before it is too late, click on – https://niagaraatlarge.com/2020/11/27/save-niagaras-green-spaces-speak-now-or-risk-losing-them-forever/ .
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