Vaughan council not supporting Ontario's Bill 66 after public backlash
‘Further engagement is needed on the draft legislation,’ council says
YorkRegion.com
Jan 22, 2019
Dina Al-Shibeeb
Vaughan’s council says it does not support Ontario’s draft Bill 66 “in its present form” after some residents expressed disapproval for the proposed legislation.
Bill 66 or Restoring Ontario’s Competitiveness Act, 2018 seeks to make sweeping changes to legislation that the government says will reduce bureaucracy and red tape.
Opponents of the bill warn the legislation could undermine clean-water protections and undo decades of work to put regulations in place that keep people and the environment healthy and clean.
During deputations to top council on Thursday Jan. 17, an overwhelming majority of residents spoke passionately against Bill 66.
One of those residents, Michael Ruskin, said Bill 66 is “irreversible,” likening it to “dropping an egg on the floor.”
Jason Heart urged Vaughan council not to accept Bill 66, saying he doesn’t want to go back to the 1960s and the 1970s when there weren’t enough regulations to keep water channels clean.
In northern Ontario, for example, many residents along the English-Wabigoon river system lost their jobs as commercial fishermen due to a local paper mill releasing mercury into the water.
“I don’t want to go back,” Heart said, adding that suggesting environment laws are red tape is “wrong.”
Gloria Marsh, executive director of York Region Environmental Alliance, reminded the public that the Clean Water Act was instituted as a result of the Walkerton tragedy in 2000 where contamination sickened more than 2,000 people and killed six others.
Marsh said before the Clean Water Act, sewers were installed in the 1980s in Oak Ridges running east/west along North Lake Road between Yonge Street and Bayview Avenue.
“This caused a terrible decline in water quality of the lake. People and pets that used the lake became ill, my children included,” she said during her deputation.
“Remediation involved the creation of channels to try and restore the recharge function to the lake. A lake lung was also installed to try and clean up toxic and deadly blue green algae to no avail. It actually made it worse."
Another common theme in the residents' deputations was that Vaughan has seen, especially since 2010, about 55,000 new jobs created.
And Thornhill Coun. Alan Shefman noted there are already an existing 1,000 hectares of land approved for employment.
Deb Schulte, an MP for King-Vaughan, said during her deputation Vaughan has “spent millions” on its official plan, and “spent millions to defend it.”
She urged the councillors to “send a strong message” and to keep a “unified” front against Bill 66.
Vaughan’s council said: “Further engagement is needed on the draft legislation.”
“There continues to be a great need to protect the Oak Ridges Moraine and the lands in the Greenbelt, to reinforce the importance of public consultation, and to ensure any legislation adheres to the Clean Water Act and Vaughan’s Official Plan,” council added.
Ontario’s Green party has also asked for schedule 10 to be removed from Bill 66. It allows municipalities to override provisions in the Greenbelt Act, Clean Water Act, Lake Simcoe Act, Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Act and Great Lakes Protection Act.
Robert A. Kennedy from Mackenzie Ridge Ratepayers Association showed a video of Premier Doug Ford saying that he won’t touch the Greenbelt before the fall election.
“We don’t need retrograde politicians,” he said, urging Vaughan not to go backward, but rather become a “leader.”
Vaughan Mayor Maurizio Bevilacqua said “every single point” that was made during the deputations will be written in a report for Ford and the MPPs.
