NDP Launches Petition Calling On Federal Government To Act
A Call-Out from Canada’s New Democratic Party
Posted January 27th, 2023 on Niagara At Large
Only Prime Minister Trudeau and Environment Minister Stephen Guilbeault can stop Doug Ford from bulldozing the Greenbelt — and Canada’s NDP is calling on the federal Liberal government to do that urgently.
“Only Trudeau and Guilbeault have the power to stop Doug Ford from bulldozing the Greenbelt, and time is running out to act,” said NDP Ethics critic Matthew Green (Hamilton Centre).
“The Greenbelt grows our food, cleans our water and prevents GTA homes from flooding. For Trudeau and Guilbeault, it should be a simple choice now between protecting people’s food and our future, or letting the floodwaters rise up into our homes and our communities.”
Ontario Premier Doug Ford is planning to bulldoze 7,400 acres of the Greenbelt. His move is scandal plagued, since multiple media outlets have reported that large developers — friends and donors of Doug Ford — have purchased relatively low-value Greenbelt land since Ford was elected in 2018, with the most recent transaction in September. With Ford’s announcement that that land can be developed, those developers are poised to make hundreds of millions of dollars.
“Time is running out. Trudeau and Guilbeault can’t be toothless — making threats for headlines, then turning their backs on Ontarians,” said Green. “We’re calling on the federal government to use its power urgently to stop Doug Ford and save the Greenbelt.”
The federal government has at least two tools at its disposal — the Species at Risk Act (SARA) and the Impact Assessment Act. This would not be without precedent. In November 2021, Guilbeault issued an emergency order to stop a residential development in Longueuil, Quebec due to threats to the habitat of the western chorus frog, using the SARA.
(A Brief Footnote from Niagara At Large reporter and publisher Doug Draper- I applaud Canada’s New Democratic Party’s efforts to call Canada’s Federal Government to Action in the fight to save our Greenbelt.
The only thing I would take issue with in the above NDP statement is the idea that “only” Canada’s Prime Minister and Environment Minister can stop Ford from bulldozing the Greenbelt.
We the people – people power on our behalf – can work to stop Ford and his pals in the development syndicate from paving over these precious lands too. Let’s not forget it.)
To read another key story on this issue, click on – https://thenarwhal.ca/steven-guilbeault-ontario-greenbelt/
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Thank you Doug for doing what you can to spread the word about the Greenbelt. Like majority of people I used to believe “Protected Greenbelt” actually meant protected. Wasn’t till 2017 I finally learned it really means protected for future paving by Greenbelt landowner Developers who’ve waited decades to pave it when the ‘market’ best suited how much they have wanted to make from paving it.
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Kudos to Matthew Green, NDP MP for Hamilton Centre! He speaks for many thousands of Ontarians who’ll be watching closely to see if the federal government cares about environmental protection.
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