OrilliaMatters welcomes letters to the editor at [email protected]. Please include your daytime phone number and address (for verification of authorship, not publication). The following letter is in response to a full page ad in Orillia's weekly newspaper and a letter to the editor from MPP Jill Dunlop, titled 'Dunlop says heartbreaking reality spawned Bill 23,' published Dec. 22.
At the end of MPP Jill Dunlop's 'Myth and Fact' article, Dunlop sincerely mentions; “I am happy to share this information with you to illustrate the facts about the changes the government is making, and I will continue to work hard representing Simcoe North at Queen's Park.”
Why are you trying to share information with us now? The Ford government has not been transparent with the citizens of Ontario.
Where were the Progressive Conservatives during the recent electoral debates? Why did I not get a response to my questions about the Greenbelt from “the Office of the Premier?”
Why did I get a generic email response from you Jill? Oh!, here is another concerned citizen asking about the importance of the Greenbelt ... click ... generic response sent.
In his first term, Doug Ford dismantled environmental protections (checks and balances). He disempowered conservation authorities and even went as far as creating a provincial fund, allowing industry to do work that harms the habitat of species at risk with a pay into fund.
It is clear to me that all of his actions were paving the way for development before we even realized that there was an affordable housing shortage.
So I am asking you, MPP Dunlop, to answer my questions with your FACTS!
- Why was the Greenbelt created in 2005?
- Why did experts choose this area to be protected?
- Why is it no longer important to keep it intact?
- Are there species at risk or endangered species in these areas of proposed development? Please be honest.
- Are there any provincially significant wetlands in the areas to be affected?
- Does the Ford government still recognize Provincially significant wetlands as “Provincially Significant”?
- The Ford government wants to open up the Greenbelt and swap lands from other areas to add to the Greenbelt. If that new land was important to protect, it would have been included back in 2005. So the question is….Is the land you want to add to the Greenbelt as important as the land you intend to develop?
- Is it true that Doug Ford and yourself in 2018, made a promise that you would not touch the Greenbelt?
- Did Environment Minister David Piccini tell reporters that some of the Greenbelt’s boundaries “were based more on political science than actual science?” (the Globe and Mail). Can you please explain this?
- Jill, you said in OrilliaMatters “Bill 23 does not alter the Greenbelt.” Did you know that adding to or taking away, is in fact “altering the Greenbelt.” Can you explain this?
- I understand that even with a huge backlash from the citizens of Ontario, your government intends to move forward with this development. Why have developers in recent years purchased land in the Greenbelt? How did they know that this protected area would be opened up for development?
- How is the government going to control what is built in the Greenbelt? How are you going to ensure that affordable housing units are built?
- Is the Greenbelt land going to be used for residential purposes only? Or are you going to allow for commercial and industrial development as well?
I remember as a child, my mother’s licence plate read 'Ontario Keep It Beautiful.' For the past 37 years, it was 'Yours To Discover.'
In 2019 Doug Ford changed it to 'A place To grow.' Today, with Doug Ford at the wheel, our licence plate slogan should read, 'Ontario, yours to pave over.'
Stu Blackwell
Orillia
