• Protecting Water and Farmland in Simcoe County

Blog

Jan 12th, 2018
6 Comments
15200 Views
MNRF Minister Kathryn McGarry   It’s been months since the first shock of hearing that the Ontario Tree Seed Plant would close in September 2018. Our first stunned question then was Why? Now, after hearing the rationale from the MNRF at a public meeting, reading some of the letters addressed to ...
In Blog
Dec 19th, 2017
2 Comments
3509 Views
You-know-who with fund-raising t-shirt This started off as a review of three important books that I thought would be good gifts for activists – then it morphed into a Christmas wish list from all of us to all of us. These are the books: -Boiling Point – Government Neglect, Corporate Abuse, and ...
Dec 11th, 2017
1 Comment
3552 Views
The anger was palpable. It came from residents of Oro-Medonte, Adjala-Tosoronto and Tiny. They were among 40 people from around the county who attended a workshop at the Oro Station community hall last week. The event was organized by Environmental Defence to get feedback on the “responsible aggregat...
Apr 23rd, 2017
0 Comments
7424 Views
There are so many Issues going on in Simcoe County it’s hard to know where to start. The Ontario Municipal Board hearing for the debacle of Burl’s Creek Event Grounds concluded several weeks ago. So a decision should be coming out soon. With all the illegal activities, fines and zoning violations inc...
In Blog
Feb 8th, 2017
3 Comments
3467 Views
Over the past 40 years or so I have watched land speculators buy up cheap land and somehow get the land rezoned from productive agricultural land into subdivisions or factories. The pattern seems fairly consistent and I’ve had some personal experience with this when I was on Oro-Medonte council. The ...
Jan 23rd, 2017
0 Comments
1975 Views
It’s been a while since I posted a blog so I’ll start with good news. Thanks to AWARE Simcoe’s efforts spearheaded by Anne Learn Sharpe and Kate Harries, the Nottawasaga River has been reinstated for protection under the Federal Navigation Protection Act. The former Conservative government had scrapp...
In Blog
Jan 10th, 2017
3 Comments
6592 Views
I’ve spent some time thinking about the Freele Tract recently, as I considered a response to the questionnaire the Rainforest Alliance is asking community members and stakeholders to answer. This is part of the process of evaluating  the County of Simcoe’s decision to locate its organics ...
In Blog
Nov 27th, 2016
2 Comments
3384 Views
Here’s an ancient idea: trees are sentient, social beings that communicate, recognize family members, learn and remember, adjust their behaviour and support each other through hard times. It’s an idea that speaks to the mystical within us, an idea we once learned, through myth, fable or aboriginal sp...
Oct 20th, 2016
0 Comments
1929 Views
from the Springwater News October 20 2016 On October 6 we had an opportunity to see the OMB Minutes of Settlement which outlined the deal the County made with the Midhurst Landowners. In summary it permits development on another 400 acres of good agricultural land for residential development. We also...
Oct 6th, 2016
0 Comments
2002 Views
from the Springwater News October 6 2016 As you may have heard, read or saw, I have strong words for the way a decision was made behind closed doors that negatively impacts Springwater. The County was provided the authority from the Province to approve and allocate a total of 20,000 extra population ...