LETTER: Keep putting Bill 23 pressure on politicians

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From OrilliaMatters, Nov. 27 2022.
Letter to the Editor

Yes, another letter in opposition to Doug Ford’s Bill 23 and related Greenbelt encroachment. It is great to see so many people writing letters to the editor, emailing/writing their MPPs and local council, attending rallies, signing petitions, etc., on this issue. Keep it coming.

I am not going to rehash the issues as they have been well covered, but at a high level this is about:

• Legislation that supports sprawl, puts our environment and our natural spaces at risk in a world of climate change, climate change-related catastrophes and biodiversity loss.
• The reduction and erosion of our democratic rights as citizens. There is too much of this happening in the world today and we need to stop it now.
• Reducing the accountability and transparency of our provincial government.
• Creating economic windfalls for land speculators, home builders, aggregate producers and other business interests.

So, Premier Ford, Minister Clark, our Simcoe MPPs — Downey, Dunlop, Khanjin, Mulroney, Wilson — and the conservative caucus, listen carefully to what the people have to say. Take a look at what happened in Oro-Medonte in the recent municipal election when our politicians don’t listen — a four-term mayor and his cronies were all ousted.

Yes, we need affordable housing, but there has to be a better, a more sustainable way of getting there, a way that does not create more urban sprawl by permanently destroying the Greenbelt, paving over farmlands, natural spaces like wetlands, wasting our tax dollars building highways that are questionable and further support sprawl.

So, please listen to the people of this province and withdraw Bill 23 (and related Greenbelt encroachment) and retable it when it has been revised to reflect a more balanced, a more sustainable approach and one that is actually going to lead to more affordable housing development.

D.R. Varty
Oro-Medonte
Read the letter here