July 6, 2010

VIA FAX: 416-585-6882 and Mail
Mr. Larry Clay,
Regional Director, Municipal Service Division
Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing
Municipal Services Office
Central Ontario
777 Bay St., Floor 2
Toronto, ON M5G 2E5

Dear Mr. Clay:

Subject: Proposed Regulation under Section 70(h) of the Planning Act;
Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing;
EBR Registry Number 011-0037

As leader of the Green Party of Ontario, I’m writing to express my strong opposition to the proposed regulation to exempt the York Energy Centre (YEC) from the Planning Act. I am concerned with the dangerous precedent the proposed regulation establishes, namely that this government feels it can overturn its own laws, skirt its own quasi-judicial bodies, nullify the public policy objectives of the Planning Act itself and circumvent all local authority. In the Green Party's considered judgment, the proposed regulation continues the lack of transparency and abuse of due process that has pervaded the NYR procurement process to date.

This proposed ministerial action, especially while the project is before the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB), is unprecedented and simply yet another misguided step in what has been a fundamentally flawed process from the beginning.

A pre-condition for such an extraordinary exemption under the Planning Act is the completion of an Environmental Assessment (EA). Although an EA has technically been completed, it was granted on a conditional basis, and the overwhelming number of stakeholders, including the Township of King, believes the EA process was irretrievably flawed. The EA process undertaken was a screening process, not a Class EA. The EA process never considered the environmental significance, most appropriate or best site for the project. The Township of King’s request to elevate the EA process to address these concerns was denied by the McGuinty government.

As the relevant local planning authority, the Township of King determined that YEC did not conform to the province’s Greenbelt Act. It is this issue that is currently under review by the OMB. By making a preemptive decision with this proposed regulation, the government is circumventing the authority of its own independent, quasi judicial body part way through a proceeding. It is also acting in contravention of the very clear undertakings made by the McGuinty government before and during the NYR Procurement process and stipulated in the RFP. These actions imply that the McGuinty government considers itself to be above the law, including being above the laws that it has put in place itself.

Smart planning requires a transparent process, public engagement and local input. The province needs municipalities to be partners in the planning process, and the government promised they would be fully engaged in this one.

To promulgate this regulation is to validate and perpetuate an abuse of power and process that has profoundly negative implications for provincial/ municipal relations and democratic decision-making in this province. In short, the government is on the verge of stripping its own quasi judicial bodies of their authority, local municipalities of any planning authority and marginalizing citizens from the democratic process.

Therefore, I strongly urge the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing to withdraw this regulation and enable the public process to continue.

Sincerely,

Mike Schreiner
Leader, Green Party of Ontario