Mike Schreiner: “It’s time we started taking seriously our sacred responsibility to leave a livable planet for our children and grandchildren.”
On Wednesday February 20th, 2019, Mike Schreiner made history again when he introduced his first Private Member’s Bill in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.
In the face of climate change, resource extraction and sprawl, Mike’s draft legislation seeks to protect the Paris Galt Moraine, an essential water ecologically sensitive recharge area in the Grand River Watershed which naturally purifies water for the citizens of Guelph and the surrounding area. Bill 71 would amend the province’s Planning Act and Development Charges Act to more strictly regulate development that could jeopardize the moraine’s integrity.
“This is about conserving what nature can do for free, so I cannot think of a more fiscally responsible solution. Failure to act could put the government on the hook for hundreds of millions in water infrastructure, like an expensive pipeline from the Great Lakes.”
—Mike Schreiner.
Mike wrote the draft legislation over a period of months where he consulted with water experts and Ontario stakeholders, including First Nations, municipalities, farmers and MPPs from all parties.
With this important legislation, Mike has demonstrated the Green Party’s core commitment to participatory democracy and consensus based governance by building all-party support, which resulted in the bill’s passage at Second Reading on March 7th, 2019. “I’m glad my colleagues unanimously showed their commitment to Ontario’s water today. Safeguarding water and food-growing farmland should not be partisan issues. Let this be a first step towards all-party collaboration to protect the places we love,” said Schreiner.
“I appealed to good progressive conservative thinking from the past. But it took four different bills over two years before the Oak Ridges Moraine was protected by legislation. With climate change on Ontario’s doorstep, and $1.2 billion in damage last year alone, we must act quicker. I look forward to working on this bill at committee, and this legislation returning to the House for a final vote.”
—Mike Schreiner, First Green legislation passes key vote with all-party support
During the election, Mr Ford categorically promised not to touch the Greenbelt.
Not only is the Greenbelt home to 5,500 farms, 78 species at risk and 102 million tonnes of carbon storage, the reason it was protected in the first place was to protect a great deal of Ontario’s water.
Because it was introduced quietly going into Christmas, and the Ford Government has since made no secret of its intention to push Bill 66 through quickly, I don’t know if anyone has yet managed a thorough examination of all the ramifications of Bill 66.
It may only be 35 pages long, but it’s an omnibus bill, which means everything you need to know isn’t contained in this draft legislation. You’d have to read through every one of the 22 laws it will change:
Some of the changes it makes may be good things, but bad things thoroughly outweigh any good that might be there. That’s the thing about Omnibus Bills: many different things are bundled together in a package too big to be adequately considered in a democracy.
There is no reason Bill 66 couldn’t be stopped, and the good parts could be reintroduced as ordinary laws that can be properly understood and debated in the Legislature.
Our unrepresentative voting system has gifted Mr Ford’s government with 100% power to pass any law it wants, even though it was elected by only 40% of the votes cast (a mere twentysomething percent of eligible votes).
So what’s the rush?
There is nothing stopping them from allowing citizens and the MPPs in the legislature to know what it is they are passing, and allow adequate parliamentary debate of all aspects. That’s how our system is supposed to work. In a majority government, even though the party with all the power can pass any law it wants, the reason we have an opposition parties is to ensure that our legislators make sure the laws they pass stand up to scrutiny. If there are bad unintended consequences, or even if the legislation is too broad or unclear, the opposition parties can be trusted to point these things out so they can be dealt with before they become law.
The only reason for pushing something like this through fast is to keep us from knowing what they’re doing until it’s too late. Keeping the people in the dark is not how a Government for the people would operate.
In the Region of Waterloo discussion of Bill 66, Waterloo Mayor Jaworsky said, “No one asked for this.” Mr Ford keeps talking about making Ontario “Open For Business.” But what does that mean? They say this law is supposed to “cut red tape” that prevents development.
But the fact is that development isn’t being prevented. There is plenty of room in Ontario, plenty of land available and open for development without going anywhere near the protected lands of the Green Belt. There is no need to endanger our water or anything else. That’s why municipalities across Ontario are passing resolutions saying they don’t want or need this.
Why is this happening?
When the laws protecting Ontario’s water and the Greenbelt were put in place, land prices in the Greenbelt stayed low. When farmland can’t be turned into a factory or subdivision, it stays viable as farmland. But because of the low prices, some developers bought land in the Greenbelt, speculating that in time they would elect a government willing to undo the Greenbelt protections. And so they did.
In spite of all-party approved changes to Ontario’s election financing law preventing political parties from accepting corporate donations, the changes didn’t go far enough. To skirt the law, developers like Mattamy Homes were allowed to contribute ridiculous sums of money to Partisan third party advertiser Ontario Proud, specializing in attack ads against Mr Ford’s opponents. (And Mr Ford is undoing that election financing law because the people he is for have lots of money to spend to ensure the governments they want get elected. But that’s another story.)
The only reason the Ford Government is trying so hard to carve up the green spaces of our province with factories and subdivisions is because their rich supporters want to make a profit.
Ontario has been doing a pretty good job of long term planning, protecting sensitive environments, our water and our food supplies. Once farmland is paved, its gone.
Once farmland is developed, it’s not farm land anymore.
The best we can hope for from Bill 66 is that decades of careful land management will be messed up. Much of the law protecting our water dates back to the previous PC Government, and were put in place to protect Ontario from another Walkerton. Or another Elmira.
If that’s not bad enough, Bill 66 does away with any requirement for public notice or consultation or meetings, and no matter what problems are caused, we won’t even be able to appeal to the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal. So called “Open For Business” by-laws passed behind closed doors will trump laws, policies and municipal official plans developed through extensive and open public consultation. Communities would have no recourse to influence or challenge them.
And even if your Council doesn’t do any of these things, the Council next door might, and endanger the environment we all share.
January 20th is the deadline for comments to Bill 66 on the Environmental Registry of Ontario (EBR).
Be sure that you and others that you know speak up and let your concerns be known. It would be fantastic if your group or organization can make an official response or submission. There is plenty of information in the Bill 66 Recent Articles linked below. There are a myriad of issues and concerns, but you can say as little or as much as you like in your comment. Don’t be shy about making comments personally – even if it is just a short sentence or two. I would suggest making it clear right at the top that you don’t want Bill 66. I am afraid to say that at this point they are not likely to listen to what we say, but they will certainly tally up how many comments support or oppose the bill.
Please take two minutes to send a message to the Ontario Government to stop Bill 66:
You can also visit the Green Party of Ontario’s Defend The Greenbelt website. If you feel you need assistance in using the comment process, the GPO advises you to Click here for step-by-step instructions to participate in the government consultation.
And of course we can always contact our Member of Provincial Parliament:
Michael Harris Jr, Kitchener-Conestoga, Progressive Conservative Party
Rm 434, Main Legislative Bldg,
Queen’s Park M7A 1A8
Toronto: tel 416 326-6945, fax 416 326-6942
Constituency office:
Unit 3 and 4, 63 Arthur St. S., Elmira, N3B 2M6 Mike.harrisco@pc.ola.org
Tel 519 669-2090, fax 519 669-0476
Constituency Office:
498 Eagle St. N., Cambridge N3H 1C2 Belinda.karahalios@pc.ola.org
Tel 519 650-2770, fax 519 650-3918
And you can also call the Premier’s Office directly!
Call 416 325-1941 and leave a short message for Premier Doug Ford re your concerns about Bill 66
Catherine Fife, Waterloo, New Democratic Party
Room 154, Main Legislative Building,
Queen’s Park, Toronto M7A 1A5
Tel 416 325-6913, fax 416 325-6942
Constituency Office:
Suite 220 100 Regina St. S, Waterloo N2J 4P9 (office is in City Hall Bldg)
For legislative issues: Cfife-QP@ndp.on.ca
For community issues: cfife-co@ndp.on.ca
Tel 519 725-3477, fax 519 725-3667
Laura Mae Lindo, Kitchener Centre, New Democratic Party
Room 170, Main Legislative Building,
Queen’s Park, Toronto, M7A 1A5
Tel 416 326-7221, fax 416 326-7217
Constituency Office:
Suite 212, 25 Frederick St., Kitchener, N2H 6M8
For legislative issues: LLindo-QP@ndp.on.ca
For community issues: LLindo@ndp.on.ca
Tel 519 579-5460, fax 519 579-2121
Mike Schreiner, Guelph, Green Party
Room 451, Main Legislative Building,
Queen’s Park, Toronto M7A 1A2
Tel 416 325-4664, fax 416 325-4666 Mschreiner@ola.org
Although this is not a Green Party event, it is sure to be of interest, not just to Greens, but every Ontarian interested in the health of our environment. It’s sure to be a lively discussion you won’t want to miss.
Although this is not a Green Party event, it is sure to be of interest, not just to Greens, but every Ontarian interested in the health of our environment. It’s sure to be a lively discussion you won’t want to miss.
Why do coffee machines have plastic baskets? The oils build up over time and add bitterness to even the best coffee. Which is why my fair trade coffee is filtered through this ceramic basket.
The brown unbleached filters seem less chemically, and I stopped using the #2 cone filters, because, not only are they much more expensive than the basket filters, the bottoms often break. I’d rather not have to sieve my coffee.
7.2.2 DGR Not a Concern
Research shows that there is little interest among the general public regarding the DGR Project at the Bruce Nuclear site. OPG had a social media analysis prepared in the fall of 2016. The analysis began with a detailed query in Sysomos MAP – a media analysis platform that provides news, blogs, forums, tweets and many other media results. A year’s worth of data was passed through IBM Watson’s Alchemy – a language analysis platform to identify key themes identified from OPG DGR related media activity and conversations in the past year. In addition to media analysis, the Google Keyword Planning Tool as well as Google Trends was used to understand how Ontarians are seeking information about nuclear waste disposal. In particular, the analysis focused on the keywords being used, and the frequency with which Ontarians are looking for this information.
The analysis showed that Ontarians are not looking for information on nuclear waste disposal in large volumes. This topic is not a popular one, nor is it generating large volumes of curiosity.
Compared to other energy related keywords (wind turbines, solar power) there is very
little curiosity about nuclear waste disposal, or deep geologic repositories.
DGR related searches are at a frequency of virtually zero, and nuclear waste as a topic
shows less interest amongst Canadians than other energy topics.
Looking at how Ontarians search, there is an even greater discrepancy. Energy and
power are more important (or generate more curiosity) than disposal and waste related
searches.
Currently, interest in DGR in Ontario has flat-lined; outside of a spike in May 2015
attributed to the release of the Joint Review Panel report, there has been very little
search frequency for ‘deep geologic repository’.
The Federal Government has extended the deadline to make a decision on this twice has been extended twice; I believe the current deadline is August 12, 2017 ~ Laurel
Happening now in Vancouver, Canada thousands protest the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion. This pipeline if built would add the equivalent of 30+ million cars on the road or 42 new coal power plants.
Mark my words, if Justin Trudeau approves this pipeline he’s going to see mass protests and arrests just like the situation going on in North Dakota with the Dakota Access Pipeline. The mayor of Burnaby has said he is willing to lay down in front of bulldozers to stop the project.
The mayor of Vancouver and former Premier of BC agree:
Going up to my cousin’s farm was one of my favourite things as a child. I was in love with their German Shepard dog, Rex, and I liked helping bring the cows in to be milked at night. It was where I first learned about karma, although I didn’t hear the word for it until many years later. My sister Lynda wouldn’t let me have a turn holding a piglet, so when he peed on her it was like divine intervention. I loved talking to the animals, and I loved when a cat sometimes got a squirt of milk from an udder. Or getting to drink warm fresh (unpasteurized!) milk from the big vat. The earliest visit I remember I was maybe 4 or 5.
The time I’m writing about was the time I learned the hard truth about where chicken dinners came from. We were all in the front yard between the house and the barn. There wasn’t much yard in front, really, it was mostly a dirt parking lot separating house & barn where cars and tractors came and went.
That day a chicken was caught, and like Mary Queen of Scots she was carried to a block of wood. I didn’t understand what was happening, so when the axe came down on her neck in the blink of an eye I was profoundly shocked.
The head lay still on the chopping block, but the most horrific bit was the headless body running around the yard spraying a geyser of blood into the air. I remember laughter, but I don’t know whose. Then the drained animal fell down, spent. I think everyone was surprised that I didn’t find it funny, but I was a soft hearted city kid. I got angry at the dog I loved when he ran over to lick the blood from the chopping block.
I was very upset, and then horrified when the women sat down to pluck the dead bird. That was when I learned that we would be eating the dead bird for dinner. I vowed I would never, and I spent the afternoon pouting upstairs to my cousin’s room. And then the smell of roasting chicken wafted up the stairs. And eventually the smell helped my resolve shatter, and I ate the chicken dinner after all. I was unhappy about it, and mostly I was disappointed in myself. It occurs to me now that even though I spent a lot of time there throughout my childhood, I don’t ever remember this happening when I was there again.
After that I knew I was a meat eater, and probably always would be. We ended up moving out to an old farm house in the country when I was ten, so although I was really still a city kid I learned about country life. We had three quarters of an acre, with an orchard, and dad put in a mammoth garden, in spite of the fact that the only vegetables he would ever eat were peas carrots and corn. A large part of the garden was flowers, and there was always rhubarb and musk melons (aka cantaloupe) and a pumpkin patch. Every year he tried to grow watermelon, but the growing season just wasn’t long enough, although I suspect it is nowadays.
Our farmhouse was the original built for the pig farm next door. The farmer had separated our land, and with the proceeds he could build a big modern house with a granny suite for his mother upstairs, and a basement shower room so he wouldn’t track the barn smells into the house. The farmer was also a blacksmith who shod the horses of the local Old Order Mennonite population. I loved watching him shoe the horses, or visiting the neighbouring farm animals. That was the first time I saw chickens confines to cages for their entire lives. The best part of living there was the fact we could have a dog; the worst was that the dog would raid the manure pile and bring home the corpses of aborted piglets. This was hard for me as the kid who was always trying to save injured birds and the like. Of course I was a big fan of “Black Beauty” and “Charlotte’s Web”.
And I still love animals as “people.” And now a half century later, although I am still a meat eater, and I know it would be difficult to give it up, that I would have to relearn how to eat if I were to ever become vegetarian. Vegan will never even be a possibility. And yet one day a few years ago I suddenly couldn’t eat pork any more.
All the same, I’m still a meat eater. My vegetarian and vegan friends have not actually tried to convince me to switch. But I am learning from them. These days I have friends who are not only vegan, but working to change the world. And I’ve been learning about some of the trials faced by animal activists. Did you know, there are even refuges for farm animals?. Eating animals is bad enough, but making their whole lives a misery is inhumane. And as it turns out, unfettered animal based agriculture is damaging to the environment.
So while I am still a meat eater, and probably always will be, I can decrease the amount of meat that I do eat. And I have.
I thought it would be hard to manage one meatless day a week, and as it happens, I’ve been managing at least one (and sometimes more) meatless day each week for some time now.
And it isn’t that hard.
And now that my farming cousin is retired, his favourite pet is a rooster.
We can all change, and we can change the world.
On Saturday, July 16th, 2016, say “hi” to the PIGS vs RIBS folk in Victoria Park. The Kitchener Ontario Animal Liberation Alliance will be in the vicinity of the Clocktower from 4-7pm. They’ll be handing out FREE literature and FREE samples of plant meats to showcase the vegan lifestyle as more fun – and delicious – than most animal-eaters would expect. Vegan food needs to shed the rumours of being inferior – today is the day to do so!
When I was a child I didn’t much like downtown Waterloo because of the pervasive smell of the Seagram’s Distillery that hung over the city core.
Those days are long past, as manufacturing that decreases the quality of life is better relegated to more isolated locales. Waterloo today enjoys the reputation of being one of Ontario’s more livable cities.
The Seagram industrial complex was remade into upscale loft housing some years back.
Originally there was an enormous pyramid of old barrels out front, making a wonderful historic bit of historic public art, but that has now been replaced by the more sedate “Barrel Warehouse Park”.
These days the park is graced by public art consisting of a few gigantic bits of miscellaneous machinery that presumably were once employed in the distillery business.
There is also an odd little man-made waterfall cascading out of a featureless concrete wall…
… to the floor of a sloped concrete enclosure. Presumably the puddle at the bottom is intended as a wading pool for local children.
But it is the ranks of identical windows flanked on one side by identical blue shutters that provides the real art to this architectural gentrification project.
Guest Post by Louisette Lanteigne
