The price of Ford’s attack on environmental protections is too high

December 7, 2020

QUEEN’S PARK — GPO leader Mike Schreiner made the following statement in response to Minister Clark’s announcement:

“No matter how much pay-to-pave money the government sets aside for wetland reconstruction, the bottom line is that it will not compensate for the destruction of existing wetlands.

It is far cheaper to protect existing wetlands than to pave over them and pay for the consequences.

It is fiscally irresponsible for the government to destroy natural wetlands.

The government’s actions will increase the cost of flooding and could negatively impact source water protection rules brought as a response to the Walkerton water tragedy.

Conservative politicians such as the current chair of the Toronto Region Conservation Authority and a former PC cabinet minister, along with AMO and the Big City Mayors, are calling for the government to withdraw schedule 6 from Bill 229.

Members of the Greenbelt Council have made it clear that gutting the science-based decisions of conservation authorities will have negative impacts on the integrity of the Greenbelt.

Ford’s attack on the rules and regulations that protect the people and places we love in Ontario must stop. The price of his actions is too high.”

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