Statement from Phil Pothen, Ontario Environment Program Manager, Environmental Defence

Toronto | Traditional territories of the Huron-Wendat, the Anishnaabeg, Haudenosaunee, Chippewas and the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation – This afternoon the Ontario government announced that it intends to break its loudest, clearest election promise, by inflicting a fatal 7,400 acre wound on the vital and wildly popular Greenbelt.  

It is clear that this attack would end the critical role the Greenbelt plays to stop sprawl and protect farmland, forests, and the source of our drinking water, as well address climate change. The government should be ashamed and the people of Ontario should be outraged.  

Promises by the government to “swap” in 9,400 acres of land in other locations will do nothing to mitigate the damage to the Greenbelt system. That is in part because at least some areas being floated as replacements for bulldozed segments of the Greenbelt were already off limits for development – meaning those additions would not mitigate the net loss of protected lands. Even more importantly, the government’s plans would utterly destroy the certainty of permanent protection that is vital to the functioning of the Greenbelt as a whole. 

Stripping these 7,400 acres of protection at the request of land speculators would unleash a firestorm of land speculation across the entire Greenbelt – denying farmers the certainty they need to continue stewarding the forests, wetlands and soils on their land, and pushing ownership forever out of reach. It will also start a never-ending queue of Greenbelt land speculators at the Minister’s door, each with their own convenient rationalization for paving their own patch of Greenbelt.

The government’s attempt to rationalize this attack on the Greenbelt as a measure to deliver “more homes” is disingenuous. There is such a vast supply of unused “greenfield” land already open for development within existing municipal settlement boundaries (350 square kilometers as of 2019), that opening up Greenbelt lands will not deliver a single net new home. The latest round of boundary expansions would – if approved – add 17,000 hectares more of non-Greenbelt land to that vast stockpile. Far from boosting the number of new homes, because of a constrained supply of skilled labour, materials and equipment, it is likely this plan would result in fewer homes being delivered within the next decade. 

According to Bilal Akhtar, a prominent volunteer organizer with More Neighbours Toronto:

“This proposal would be a disaster for housing supply. Slashing open the Greenbelt, combined with Bill 23’s extreme watering down of promised measures to facilitate more homes in existing low-rise “single detached” neighborhoods, will mean LESS housing supply in the places where it is desperately needed – not more. The last thing we need is to squander labour, materials, and equipment that we need to add compact family homes in existing built up areas and settlement areas – and especially in Toronto– on greenfield sprawl in northern York Region and Pickering.” 

Removing land from the Greenbelt, taken together with the Ontario government’s Bill 23 attack on Conservation Authorities, the Growth Plan, the Planning Act, the Endangered Species Act and other important legislation, dismantles decades of slow progress toward protecting Ontario’s environment and creating more sustainable communities. These actions together repudiate the important and historic work of many previous governments, including those of Bill Davis and Mike Harris. 

More information about how land swaps would be the death of the Greenbelt is available here

ABOUT ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENCE (environmentaldefence.ca): Environmental Defence is a leading Canadian environmental advocacy organization that works with government, industry and individuals to defend clean water, a safe climate and healthy communities.

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For more information or to request an interview, please contact:

Allen Braude, Environmental Defence, abraude@environmentaldefence.ca

The post Statement: The Ontario government’s proposed 7,400 acre giveaway to land speculators is a death sentence for the entire Greenbelt appeared first on Environmental Defence.

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29 species listed under the federal Species at Risk Act, including birds, amphibians, reptiles, fish, insects and trees, are in harm’s way

Toronto | Traditional territories of the Huron-Wendat, the Anishnaabeg, Haudenosaunee, Chippewas and the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation – A new report from Environmental Defence, The Road To Our Ruin: How Highway 413 Would Impact Threatened and Endangered Species, draws attention to the fact that the proposed highway would put threatened and endangered species along and near the highway route at further risk. Written by biologists affiliated with the University of Guelph, the report provides information about each of the 29 federally-listed species at risk that would be impacted by Highway 413, along with maps that show where each species has been sighted in proximity to the highway’s path, and illustrations of each species.  

The report identifies 29 federally listed at risk species in the path of the highway, including birds, amphibians, reptiles, fish, insects and trees. It also finds that Highway 413 would impact 122 species of birds protected under the Migratory Birds Convention Act, another piece of federal legislation, and concludes that the cumulative effects of urban sprawl encouraged by the highway would lead to “widespread habitat fragmentation.” 

“Highway 413 would push endangered species in the area even closer to the brink, while we’re in the midst of a global biodiversity crisis. Some scientists are referring to this period as the sixth great extinction – and Highway 413 would accelerate that,” said Keith Brooks, Programs Director for Environmental Defence. “It’s unconscionable”  

The report details how Highway 413 would threaten birds such as the Red-headed Woodpecker, an endangered species, the Short-eared Owl, which has suffered one of the steepest declines of any bird listed by the federal Species At Risk Act, and the Eastern Meadowlark, which Ontario has failed to protect under it’s Endangered Species Act. 

Other endangered species include the Jefferson Salamander, the Redside Dace a tiny minnow, the Western Chorus Frog, and the Rapids Clubtail, a dragonfly so rare, it’s only known to live alongside four rivers in Canada, two of which are the Humber and Credit Rivers. Highway 413 would cross both these rivers. 

“Highway 413 would cross over 130 rivers and streams near their headwaters – which are their most ecologically sensitive areas. In terms of water quality, it’s the worst place you could put a highway,” said Dr. Ryan Norris, a professor at the University of Guelph who co-authored the report with colleague Karl Heide. “We have a duty to protect biodiversity here. Every species is important in this environment, all environments. But this highway would do the opposite: it would be seriously chipping away at biodiversity.”

“We had Doctor Norris and Karl Heide do this analysis for us because we think it’s important for Ontarians to understand what’s really at risk if Highway 413 goes through. This report is also paired with a more technical report that we’re going to send to the Federal Impact Assessment Agency and to the Honourable Steven Guilbeault, Federal Minister of Environment and Climate Change. The Ontario government has been a disaster when it comes to protecting endangered species, which is why the federal government has the duty, responsibility, and clear authority to step in. We are urging Minister Guilbeault to take that responsibility seriously,” added Brooks. 

The full report is available here.

ABOUT ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENCE (environmentaldefence.ca): Environmental Defence is a leading Canadian environmental advocacy organization that works with government, industry and individuals to defend clean water, a safe climate and healthy communities.

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For more information or to request an interview, please contact:

Allen Braude, Environmental Defence, abraude@environmentaldefence.ca

The post New Report Shows How Highway 413 Would Threaten Endangered Species  appeared first on Environmental Defence.

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Statement and Detailed Analysis of Bill 23 from Phil Pothen, Ontario Environment Program Manager, Environmental Defence

Toronto | Traditional territories of the Huron-Wendat, the Anishnaabeg, Haudenosaunee, Chippewas and the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation – The Ontario government’s Bill 23 “More Homes Built Faster Act” includes only tepid measures to enable more badly needed home construction in existing cities, while diving deep into dangerous attacks on wetland habitat, woodlands and other conservation lands and encouraging even more of the expensive rural sprawl that caused Ontario’s housing crisis.

The most glaring feature of Bill 23 and its associated policy proposals is an attack on Conservation Authorities, woodlands and provincially significant wetlands that aims to enable destruction of wetland habitats and conservation lands:

• Across Ontario, municipalities largely leave it to Conservation Authorities to use refusal of permits – and their authority to appeal land use decisions – to ensure that sprawl doesn’t destroy the ecological function of the habitat and water bodies they protect.
• However, this Bill prohibits Conservation Authorities’ power to protect anything beyond managing floodwaters and erosion. It would leave vast swathes of Ontario’s most important habitats largely unprotected. This measure is useless as a spur to housing supply, because Ontario has more than enough room in existing neighborhoods and lands already designated for development than it will need for housing for many decades.

This Bill’s attack on regional planning is counterproductive for housing affordability – as well as being environmentally disastrous:

• Devolving planning decisions to lower-tier municipalities would produce development that is more scattered and thus much more environmentally harmful, but also more uncoordinated and expensive.
• This is precisely the opposite of what’s needed at a time when we need to preserve every acre of farmland and habitat, and use scarce construction materials, construction labour, equipment and supporting infrastructure to maximize the number of well-designed and low-cost homes, and transform existing post-WWII subdivisions into public transit-supporting complete communities.

One of the few bright spots in this Bill is a mandate for as-of-right zoning for building more densely near major transit stations:

• However, promised reforms to remove or reduce exclusionary “single detached” zoning, which is desperately needed to add compact and low-cost family housing to existing low-rise neighborhoods, were watered down to such a degree that, according to the government’s own documents, they would create just 50,000 of the 1,500,000 promised  homes.
• This means that families would still be pushed out into low-density car-dependent sprawl.
• The government seems to be using this bill to destroy many of the most effective measures that cities have created to ensure that development can go ahead smoothly without causing social and environmental problems, including ending the requirement for rental unit replacement when old buildings are replaced and putting restrictions on inclusionary zoning.

Unless the major flaws in Bill 23 are addressed, it will further the destruction of critical natural areas in a time of climate crisis, while also failing to  deliver the urban transformation – or the affordable housing – that Ontario needs.

Below is a detailed analysis of Bill 23.

BACKGROUNDER: A SCHEDULE BY SCHEDULE ANALYSIS OF THE BIGGEST ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF BILL 23

SCHEDULE 1: CITY OF TORONTO ACT, 2006 

Jeopardizing Rental Replacement

The amendment to s. 111 of the City of Toronto Act would empower the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing to unilaterally limit the City of Toronto’s much-lauded rental replacement policy.

The Rental Replacement Policy ensures that when rental apartments are demolished to make way for new development, the tenants are entitled to a replacement unit of roughly the same size and type in the new development, at the same rent as before – as well as temporary accommodation at the interim.

In the absence of the Rental Replacement Policy, construction of much-needed new housing will frequently result in the displacement of existing tenants who currently pay lower rents, and will require them to enter new leases at rents that will almost always be much higher.

Killing the Toronto Green Standard?

Toronto The  amendment to s. 114(6)  of the City of Toronto Act, and the addition of to s. 114 (1.2) would remove the statutory authority for many parts of the Toronto Green Standard, and narrow its application considerably – potentially making it impossible for the City of Toronto to meet its building emissions targets.

SCHEDULE 2: CONSERVATION AUTHORITIES ACT

Facilitating a Mass Sell-Off of Conservation Lands

When land is owned by Conservation Authorities, Ontarians trust that it will remain permanently off-limits for destruction.  Outside of extraordinary circumstances, in which case there is direct approval from the Minister or a provincial agency, board or commission, Conservation Authorities are not permitted to sell off conservation lands for development.  Bill 23 would remove the requirement for government permission, and allow the sale of conservation lands – including endangered or threatened species habitat, wetlands, and areas of natural and scientific interest.  Where a sale is for “provincial or municipal infrastructure and municipal purposes”, the authority is not even required to consult on these dispositions.

Open Season for Sprawl on Wetlands

Many of Ontario’s rarest and most at-risk wildlife and habitats are concentrated in the same “crisis ecoregions” which the vast majority of the province’s people live, and where pressure for suburban residential, commercial and residential sprawl is most intense

This Bill would remove the power of Conservation Authorities to regulate or prohibit sprawl developers and land speculators from destroying wetlands, river or stream valleys, within their jurisdiction, in almost every case. It does this through Section 7 of the Bill, which would amend s. 28 of the Conservation Authorities Act to exempt any project that has received land use planning approval under the Planning Act from Conservation Authority regulations regulating water-taking, interference with rivers, creeks, streams, watercourses, and wetlands, or controlling flooding, erosion, conservation of land.

Sections 8. (3)(a), 8(6)(a), 9 (1) (a), 9 (2) (a) & (b), 10 (4) (a), 10 (7)(a), 11(2)(1), 12 (2)(i) of the Act  would remove the power of Conservation Authorities to protect the ecological function and potentially the long-term stability and viability of wetlands. It would do this by removing the power to regulate and refuse permits based on “pollution or the conservation of land”, and removing the obligation of the Minister to consider those matters in appeals.

Gagging Conservation Authorities

Bill 23 doesn’t just prohibit Conservation Authorities from protecting conservation lands, wetlands wetlands, river or stream valleys themselves. Amendments to s. 21.1.1 and s. 21.1.2 of the Conservation Authorities Act actually goes so far as to “gag” them – prohibiting them from providing Municipalities with the information they need in order to  start protecting conservation lands themselves when they consider land use planning approvals.

If the Bill passes, Conservation Authorities will not be allowed to “provide under subsection (1), within its area of jurisdiction, a  municipal program or service related to reviewing and commenting on a proposal, application or  other matter made under a prescribed Act.”

The result will be a massive gap in Ontario’s system for protecting public safety and ecosystems, and ultimately, the unleashing of bulldozers and backhoes on cumulatively vast areas of wetland, forest and other sensitive areas currently off-limits for development.

SCHEDULE 3: DEVELOPMENT CHARGES ACT, 1997

Bill 23 would seem to jeopardize the ability of municipalities to use development charges as intended – to gather funds for large infrastructure projects to accommodate and support growth. It would do this by requiring municipalities to spend or allocate 60 per cent of reserve funds each year.

SCHEDULE 4: MUNICIPAL ACT, 2001

Opening the Door to Displacement of Lower-Income Tenants

Just as Schedule 1’s amendments to the City of Toronto Act, attack rental replacement policies in Toronto, Schedule 4 amendments to the Municipal Act, 2001 would empower the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing to unilaterally limit – and even dismantle – rental replacement policies of other Ontario municipalities.

As mentioned above, these policies ensure that when rental apartments are demolished to make way for new development, the tenants are entitled to a replacement unit of roughly the same size and type in the new development, at the same rent as before – as well as temporary accommodation at the interim.

In the absence of the rental replacement policies, construction of much-needed new housing will frequently result in the displacement of existing tenants who currently pay lower rents, and will require them to enter new leases at rents that will almost always be much higher.

SCHEDULE 9: PLANNING ACT 

Contrary to the government’s messaging, the main thrust of its amendments to the Planning Act – and the main thrust Bill 23 overall – is to legalize and provoke a massive acceleration of suburban sprawl into wetlands, forests, farmland, and other areas on the rural outskirts of major population centers in Ontario’s most sensitive ecoregions.

Unilaterally Imposing Sprawl on Municipalities that Choose Smart Growth

Over the past year, Ontario municipalities like Hamilton, Halton and and Waterloo have made extraordinary strides in protecting wildlife habitat and farmland and delivering the denser, walkable, lower-cost forms of housing in existing neighborhoods, by adopting groundbreaking plans that would allocate all – or almost all – of their new homes and workplaces to existing neighborhoods, built up areas, and their existing supply of unused designated greenfield area.

One of the most glaring features of this Bill’s amendments to the Planning Act is the removal of the last procedural obstacles to the Minister unilaterally imposing sprawl on those conscientious municipal governments.  Recent legislation allowed the provincial government to amend these plans, but only if there was an adverse affect on provincial interests protected by the Provincial Policy Statement, and only after the municipality was given the opportunity to remedy any non-compliance.

This Bill’s amendments to the s. 23 of the Planning Act would allow the government to directly impose sprawl on those municipalities, without any opportunity to accommodate demand for housing and workplaces in their own way.

Destroying Regional Planning in the Greater Golden Horseshoe

Even more concerning is the Bill’s proposal to entirely eliminate coordinated regional planning in Ontario’s Golden Horseshoe. In Simcoe, Durham, Halton, Peel, Niagara and Waterloo and York Region, regional planning is meant to prevent “patchwork” sprawl that wastes construction resources and infrastructure, to enable regional governments to ensure that development can be serviced effectively, and to ensure that land isn’t wasted.

The Bill would remove the power of Regional governments to plan where new homes and workplaces go, and the densities at which they are built, to prevent the squandering of farmland and wildlife to habitat, and to ensure that new and existing communities can be serviced with public transit, water and other infrastructure.

The effect of Bill 23 will be a region-wide race to the bottom when it comes to land-use planning, with lower-tier municipalities that lack experienced land use planning staff pressured to expand settlement boundaries onto vital farmland and habitat, or into places where they can never be serviced effectively.

Failure to Deliver on Densification: Exiling Families to Sprawl

All of Ontario’s major municipalities are on a race against time to bring post-WWII neighborhoods, in particular, up to densities that support frequent, reliable public transit, and allow most residents to get by comfortably without a car.  That is in part because of the need to both to make room for everyone who wants to live there – and to stop pushing residents into sprawl.  It is also because reducing car trips is vital to meeting Ontario’s obligations to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions before it is too late. However, it is also because the population growth that enables us to deliver them without massive hardship will not continue forever.  Ontario cannot afford to squander homes and workplaces that are needed to fix existing sprawl right now on the creation of even more sprawl suburbs in wetlands and farms.

Unfortunately, Bill 23 fails to deliver the changes required to meet demand for housing in existing neighborhoods. Measures to require that zoning be updated to facilitate densification around public transit are a modest step in the right direction.  However, Planning Act amendments hyped as meeting demand for family homes in low-traffic residential neighborhoods are nowhere near what is required to meet the demand for that kind of housing – particularly in Toronto, where vast numbers of family homes must be created within the next 30 years. Promised reforms to remove or reduce exclusionary “single detached” zoning, were watered down to such a degree that, according to the government’s own documents, they would create just 50,000 of the 1,500,000 promised homes. Contrary to government messaging, amendments to s. 16(3) of the Planning Act do not allow modest, purpose-built walk-up apartments or even townhomes to be built as of right on the existing lots currently being squandered on single detached McMansions. It is difficult to see how the changes permitted by the Bill – which allows up to two additional residential units within a detached house, semi-detached house or rowhouse, or in a modest ancillary structure – go meaningfully beyond what is already permitted in the City of Toronto.

SUPPORTING GROWTH AND HOUSING IN YORK AND DURHAM REGIONS ACT,  2022 

Unleashing Sprawl in York Region and Northern Durham Region  

While municipalities like Hamilton and Waterloo made an unprecedented effort to deliver housing in affordable and environmentally sustainable way, York Region, in particular, allowed itself to strong-armed by the provincial government into defying existing land use planning rules by submitting boundary expansion requests that would mark far more farmland and wildlife habitat for destruction than could ever plausibly be required to meet housing need.  Moreover, York Region approved boundary expansion on large swathes of land in the overtaxed Lake Simcoe watershed that lacked any capacity at all for further expansion.

The new “Supporting Growth and Housing in York and Durham Regions Act, 2022”, which would be created by Bill 23, aims to facilitate York Region’s reckless and excessive boundary expansion by forcing a massive sewage tunnel through the Greenbelt and the sensitive Oak Ridges Moraine. This law would exempt the project from many features of an Environmental Assessment, and even from the Environmental Bill of Rights.

ABOUT ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENCE (environmentaldefence.ca): Environmental Defence is a leading Canadian environmental advocacy organization that works with government, industry and individuals to defend clean water, a safe climate and healthy communities.

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For more information or to request an interview, please contact:

Allen Braude, Environmental Defence, abraude@environmentaldefence.ca

The post Ontario’s Housing Bill is Actually a Trojan Horse for Environmentally Catastrophic Rural Sprawl appeared first on Environmental Defence.

This post was originally published on Environmental Defence.

Toronto | Traditional territories of the Huron-Wendat, the Anishnaabeg, Haudenosaunee, Chippewas and the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation – Following the announcements by the Honourable Steve Clark, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, at today’s event hosted by the Toronto Region Board of Trade, land use expert Phil Pothen, Ontario Environment Program Manager, Environmental Defence, will be available for comment and interviews. Phil Pothen will focus on the urban livability, environmental, and environmental justice impacts of the proposed changes to the province’s housing legislation and policy announced by Minister Clark.

WHAT: Comments by expert Phil Pothen following the announcements by Minister Clark at the Toronto Region Board of Trade’s event “Tackling Ontario’s Housing Supply Crisis”.

WHO: Phil Pothen, a land use expert and Ontario Environment Program Manager, Environmental Defence

WHERE: Lennox Hall – First Canadian Place, 77 Adelaide St. West

WHEN: Today, 12:00 pm to 2:00 pm, following the announcements by Minister Clark

For Environmental Defence’s backgrounder on housing affordability and the environment in the Greater Golden Horseshoe, click here.

ABOUT ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENCE (environmentaldefence.ca): Environmental Defence is a leading Canadian environmental advocacy organization that works with government, industry and individuals to defend clean water, a safe climate and healthy communities.

– 30 –

For more information or to request an interview, please contact: Allen Braude, Environmental Defence, abraude@environmentaldefence.ca

The post Media Advisory: Phil Pothen, Ontario Environment Program Manager, available for comment and interviews following Minister Clark’s housing related announcements at the Toronto Region Board of Trade appeared first on Environmental Defence.

This post was originally published on Environmental Defence.

ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENCE, HARVEST ONTARIO WALK COALITION

Toronto | Traditional territories of the Huron-Wendat, the Anishnaabeg, Haudenosaunee, Chippewas and the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation – In an effort to Stop Highway 413, grassroots activists have organized 7 walks and 2 cycle routes passing through different sections of farmland and green space threatened by the proposed Highway 413. The walks and rides will take place simultaneously on October 1, and culminate with a rally and farmer’s market at Brampton Fairgrounds.

With nearly 1000 walkers and cyclists already registered across the nine routes, this will be one of the largest environmental events in the 905 region in years.

This event is being led by grassroots activists in Mississauga Climate Action and Grandmothers Act to Save the Planet, with individual walks by organized by Concerned Citizens of Adjala-Tosorontio, Concerned Citizens of King Township, EcoCaledon, Halton Hills Climate Action, Seniors for Climate Action Now, The Unitarian Congregation in Mississauga and the Wilderness Committee.

“We are showing the federal and provincial governments that the public is not behind Highway 413,” said Susan Berry, Chair of the Harvest Ontario Walk coalition. “As we have seen time and time again, more highways do nothing to alleviate traffic congestion. Ironically, they increase it and contribute to climate change.”

“The Harvest Ontario Walk is an opportunity to experience the beauty of the farms, forests, rivers and streams threatened by Highway 413, a destructive and unnecessary highway that should never be built, especially through the Greenbelt,” said Tim Gray, Executive Director, Environmental Defence.

“As a grandmother committed to leaving a livable healthy planet for our grandchildren I am most concerned about the impact that Highway 413 will have on the health of future generations. Highway 413 does not make sense,” said Carole Holmes, Co-Chair of Grandmothers Act to Save the Planet.

WHAT: Harvest Ontario Walk to Stop The 413 – a set of walks and cycling routes drawing attention to the farmland and green space threatened by Highway 413. 

WHERE: Walks and rides are happening throughout Halton, Caledon and Vaughan, with a culminating rally at the Brampton Fairgrounds (12942 Heart Lake Rd, Caledon, ON).

A map of all events, with additional information about each event, is available here: https://environmentaldefence.ca/howtostop413/

WHEN: Saturday, October 1. Most walks and rides start at 10:00 AM. 

At the Brampton Fairgrounds, music begins at 11:00 AM. Rally and speakers begin at 12:30 PM. 

Clarkway Drive Walk

Starting Point: Countryside and Clarkway Blvd.

End Point: Healey Road and The Gore Road

Start Time: 10:00 AM 

Group: EcoCaledon

Contact: info@ecoCaledon.org or Phone: 905-58G-REEN or 905 584-7336

Halton Hills Walk

Starting Point: Freestyle Farm (8768 Winston Churchill Blvd)

End Point: Freestyle Farm (8768 Winston Churchill Blvd)

Start Time: 10:00 AM

Group: Halton Hills Climate Action

Contact: Jane Fogal, jane.fogal@gmail.com

Healey Road Walk

Starting Point: Healey Road and The Gore Road

End Point: Healey Road and Airport Road

Start Time: 10:00 AM

Group: “North of Nine Group” is comprised of several Concerned Citizens groups from North of Highway Nine.

Contact: Harvey Kolodny, Harvey.Kolodny@rotman.utoronto.ca

Heart Lake Road Northern Walk

Starting Point: Meet at Brampton Fairgrounds to carpool to the starting point north on Heart Lake Rd.

End Point: Brampton Fairgrounds; 12942 Heart Lake Rd, Caledon, ON.

Start Time: 10:00 AM.

Group: Green Party of Ontario and ClimateFast

Contact: Bianca Bell, biancabell@gpo.ca 

 

Heart Lake Road Southern Walk

Starting Point: Meet at Brampton Fairgrounds to carpool to the starting point north on Heart Lake Rd.

End Point: Brampton Fairgrounds; 12942 Heart Lake Rd, Caledon, ON.

Start Time: 10:00 AM.

Group: Grandmothers Act to Save the Planet, Seniors for Climate Action Now

Contact: Carol Holmes, cjholmes46@gmail.com; Lorraine Green, lorrainegreen@bell.net

King-Vaughan Road Walk

Starting Point: King Vaughan Road and Mill Road

End Point: King Vaughan Road and Highway 27

Start Time: 11:00 AM

Group: Climate Action King (CAK) and Concerned Citizens of King Township (CCKT)

Contact: Sherry Draisey sdraisey@gmail.com and Ann Raney ann.raney.king@gmail.com

 

Nashville Conservation Reserve Walk

Starting Point: Nashville Conservation Reserve

End Point: Same as start point.

Start Time: 10:00 AM

Group: Wilderness Committee

Contact: Katie Krelove, katie@wildernesscommittee.org

Old School Road Western Walk

Starting Point: Meet at Brampton Fairgrounds to carpool to the starting point on Old School Road.

End Point: Brampton Fairgrounds; 12942 Heart Lake Rd, Caledon, ON.

Start Time: 9:45 AM

Group: The Green Sanctuary of First Unitarian Congregation and The Unitarian Congregation in Mississauga

Contact: Susan Berry, Mississauga Climate Action, susanberry@hotmail.com, 905-484-0143

Cycle Route East

Organized by Stop 413 activists and volunteers from the Toronto Bicycling Network, this route travels from Kleinburg to the Brampton Fairgrounds.

Media Contact: Katie Babcock, katiebabcock@mac.com

Cycle Route West

Organized by Stop 413 activists and volunteers from the Toronto Bicycling Network, this route travels from Meadowvale GO to the Brampton Fairgrounds.

Media Contact: Katie Babcock, katiebabcock@mac.com 

For more information about the Harvest Ontario Walk to Stop the 413, please visit: https://environmentaldefence.ca/howtostop413/

ABOUT ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENCE (environmentaldefence.ca): Environmental Defence is a leading Canadian environmental advocacy organization that works with government, industry and individuals to defend clean water, a safe climate and healthy communities.

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For more information or to request an interview, please contact:

Susan Berry, Mississauga Climate Action, susanberry@hotmail.com

Allen Braude, Environmental Defence, abraude@environmentaldefence.ca

The post Media Advisory: This Saturday October 1, hundreds will walk and bike the proposed route of Highway 413 in the Harvest Ontario Walk to Stop The 413 appeared first on Environmental Defence.

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Homes for 1.4 million more needed in Toronto by 2051, while other communities must quickly transform low-density suburbs into complete communities

Toronto | Traditional territories of the Huron-Wendat, the Anishnaabeg, Haudenosaunee, Chippewas and the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation – This October, it will be up to municipal election voters to protect Ontario’s environment. Environmental Defence says quickly building a lot more homes within the province’s existing post-WWII suburbs is the top priority, and today released its first two Environmental Platforms. They cover Toronto and 905 municipalities, and are designed as the environmental litmus tests for municipal candidates and voters in those elections.

Municipal and regional governments – including those like Toronto without “white belt” farmland and forests of their own – must fight climate change and prevent the loss of farmland and natural areas to sprawl by directing the province’s new homes and workplaces to their existing “single detached” neighbourhoods instead.

“Quickly welcoming a lot of new homes to established neighbourhoods is an essential tool to fight sprawl,” said Phil Pothen, Ontario Environment Program Manager at Environmental Defence. ”But committing to accommodating a lot more people in existing Scarborough, Brampton, Orleans, Pickering and Oakville subdivisions is also key to delivering on our other environmental “Litmus Test” commitments, like cost-effective top-quality public transit, a quick rollout of cycling and pedestrian infrastructure, and ultimately shifting the majority of our day-to-day travel away from cars and SUVs.”

Environmental Defence has consistently opposed attempts by pro-sprawl politicians to greenwash NIMBYism and sprawl by concocting pseudo-environmental objections to welcoming more housing in denser and lower-cost forms to existing low-rise and relatively low-density neighbourhoods.

“The tremendous environmental damage and environmental injustice caused by keeping residential streets off-limits for walk-up apartments and townhomes vastly outweighs any impacts of reduced building setbacks, increased pedestrian noise, interrupted “sky views”, shadows, or other local changes that might result from welcoming them,” added Pothen.

Environmental Defence’s proposals align closely with those advanced by housing advocates like More Neighbours Toronto to help address the shortage of urban housing, which has often dominated headlines in recent months.

“Enabling the wave of new market and non-market homes we’ll need to house people who want to live in Toronto, for example, is also looking like our last best chance to improve 416 and 905 suburbs from an environmental point of view,” said Pothen.

Environmental Defence also called on municipal governments across Ontario to reject mega-highways like Highway 413, and use their bylaw and spending powers to oppose climate change causing fossil gas electrical generation and fossil gas heating and cooking for new homes.

For information about what makes a strong environment platform for Toronto, click here

For information about what makes a strong environment platform for 905 municipalities, click here

ABOUT ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENCE (environmentaldefence.ca): Environmental Defence is a leading Canadian environmental advocacy organization that works with government, industry and individuals to defend clean water, a safe climate and healthy communities.

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For more information or to request an interview, please contact: Allen Braude, Environmental Defence, abraude@environmentaldefence.ca

The post Environmental Defence Urges Municipal Candidates to Protect Ontario’s Environment by Building A Lot More Homes in Existing Neighbourhoods  appeared first on Environmental Defence.

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