I grew up in a village called Brooklin, north of Whitby where the population hovered just under 2000 souls for years because of a lack of infrastructure for expansion. All of that changed after we lived there and now what was farmland surrounding the community has sprouted endless cookie-cutter houses.
During our time there from the early sixties into the seventies (gulp!) the federal government began buying up land in the area, extensively, in anticipation of developing an airport on the eastern edge of the GTHA to relieve the pressure on what is now Pearson International airport. Some of the prime farmland belonged to members of our congregation. They sold with the proviso that they could continue to farm their former properties until the airport was built.
Despite several announcements through the decades that the airport would be developed this has never happened and much of the land ended up as part of the Duffins Rouge Agricultural Preserve, within the provincial Greenbelt.
The minister's kid from Brooklin eventually returned to the area in ministry and I was part of the efforts of our then Lakeridge Presbytery to continue protection of this sensitive area.
Because of the years of relatively little development, the streams running through these lands were among the most pristine in Southern Ontario. Perhaps 15 years ago I participated in a presentation which included the group Land Over Landings whose objective is to "persuade Ottawa to preserve the Pickering Federal Lands, long earmarked as the site of a future airport, as a secure source of food and fresh water for Canada’s largest urban centre." Our presbytery voiced its collective concern to different levels of government that this land shouldn't be paved over.
In a strange twist of fate it is now the provincial government which is attenpting to figuratively and literally bulldoze through the protections of the Agricultural Preserve, and it is the feds who are sounding the alarm. Our federal government is rightly concerned that this legislation could cause “irreversible damage” to “wildlife, natural ecosystems and agricultural landscapes” in nearby Rouge National Urban Park and affect the habitats of “dozens of federally and provincially endangered and threatened species.” The national park is a gem and the watersheds in the surrounding area are vital to its ecological integrity.
Hurray! A federally mandated environmental assessment could slow down the Ford government's strong-arm tactics for years, and I pray that this will be the expectation.
There is a growing push-back by the citizens of Ontario against Bill 23 which will open the Greenbelt to development and limit that work of Conservation Authorities to protect watersheds. Premier Ford has broken his own clearly stated promises not to develop this land and he must be held to account.
For those who live in the Belleville area, the Quinte Field Naturalists are organizing what they call Requiem for Quinte’s Wetlands this coming Saturday from 4 p.m. to 5:15 p.m. to send a message to Premier Ford that wetlands and protected areas, including those in our region, are not open to development. We plan to be there because of our Christian commitment to honour Creation and to take a stand on behalf of our grandchildren and the world in which they will live.
Read this recent poll, Mr. Ford, and do some sweating:
I am sharing this on facebook. Everyone needs to be aware of what the Ford government has
ReplyDeletedone !
It's disappointing that 26% approve of the Bill. Hard to believe that many people are okay with this. If it were up to Ford, any greenery in the province would be built on and to heck with the wildlife that live on it.
ReplyDeleteThe more information shared the better, Judy, so thanks.
ReplyDeleteRoger, I hear you, yet I am actually heartened that such a high percentage of Ontarians oppose this Greenbelt giveaway knowing how partisan some people can be -- look south of the border and last night's nail-biter Senate election in Georgia. So few people voted in Ontario in the election earlier this year that this may be an indication of how weak the support is for the Ford government. Unfortunately, apathy can result in bad government.