Dear Minister Smith,
I am most alarmed at the troubling implications arising out of the Auditor General’s Report released yesterday. I had expected that some shenanigans had occurred (political favours), but had no idea that developers actually submitted the lands THEY wanted removed from The Greenbelt. Then to have both the Premier and Minister Clark deny any knowledge of these corrupt practices occurring under their watch, blaming a staffer instead, demonstrated total incompetence on the part of the two of them. Incompetence in a job is grounds for dismissal. That is what must occur with Minister Clark; he must lose his Cabinet Post. It is his job to know what is going on in his Ministry. The Premier is another matter; the people of Ontario will deal with him in the future.
I am so disappointed in you throwing in your lot with these fellows; I had always respected you as a politician in Muskoka. Here’s how you can rectify the fallout before you, too, are dragged down by their actions. I’m asking you as my MPP and as Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry, to put the full weight of your Cabinet assignment behind a call for the reversal of the changes to Greenbelt boundaries which were made last year. I urge you also to plead to your colleagues – Premier Doug Ford, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Steve Clark, Minister of Environment, Conservation and Parks David Piccini, and Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Lisa Thompson – to accept the Auditor General’s recommendation to re-evaluate the 2022 Greenbelt decision. Your government must make this right by restoring Greenbelt protections to the lands removed.
Finally, my supposition that no consideration had been given to any of the many ERO submissions I made, as an individual and on behalf of Climate Action Muskoka, to the multiple confusing and incomplete ERO postings has proven true, according to the Auditor General. See Section 4.8 of the Report: The Public and Municipalities Were Not Effectively Consulted on the Greenbelt Boundary Changes.
I am asking that you respond to this email in a manner that indicates that you have heard my concerns as a constituent and will communicate them to your colleagues. I do not wish to receive a form letter which just restates your government’s ‘talking points’.
Sincerely,
Sue McKenzie,
Gravenhurst
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John Whitty says
Undue influence by developers got land they owned switched out of the Greenbelt.
Undue influence is alive and well in Muskoka.
Airport managment’s job is to maintain and improve airport assets.
What form of undue influence would make them turn their back on that job description and close a runway to benefit a single business at the expense of others, drastically reduce airport safety and usability and the airport’s future?
Mind boggling.
Search “Muskoka Airport decision mind-boggling, says reader”
The Auditor General stated there is plenty of land for development without using the Greenbelt.
The latest consultant showed there was plenty of land for development beside the grass runway instead of on top of it. Same as an earlier consultant. Same as an earlier council agreed and voted to protect the grass runway from development.
Airport management employed a number of ruses and a plethora of misinformation to dupe District council into closing a runway..
To be fair not all councillors were fooled.
Just the majority.
In fact 3 times in the last 2 years it appeared Council would do the right thing and reopen the grass runway.
Including in July 2022 when it became clear Council’s time had been wasted for two years by the airport regarding an alternate runway 12-30 that never was a valid option.
There never was a valid reason for closing the grass runway or that it’s closed right now.
Undue influence is the only reason that makes any sense.
Just like the Greenbelt.
https://johnwhitty3.wordpress.com/2023/07/11/snake-oil-salesmen-selling-to-the-gullible/
Laura Bombier says
Thank you for your letter Sue. We need to fight to keep any green space intact. Developers are gobbling it up everywhere for personal gain. The Ford debacle in Toronto with the green belt here and Ontario Place is horrifying to watch ….acres of land are being clear cut in Huntsville for more fast food junk like Taco Bell with no plans in sight for any green space and park areas. We have a parking lot at our Huntsville river front and a cement park in our Main Street. Our planet is melting and yet we keep clear cutting trees.
Jason A Markow says
We are at a cross roads. There are societal cycles with durations long enough most of us don’t recognize them. The book. “The Fourth Turning” talks to the events of each “turning” within a society or culture, i.e. the Romans, Byzantines etc.
We are now in the Fourth Turning. What does this mean and how does it relate to this issue?
Lets start with the money, some basic macro economics. Nobel laureate economists have board agreement on a long term debt cycle with associated income and opportunity inequality. We can all see elements of this from wages staying flat for decades while inflation, cost of living, gas, groceries etc have made life difficult.
We also read stories on eight federal deficits and the Bank of Canada printing $650B. All of this adding to record levels of Government, Corporate and Household debt. Canada and the G20 debt have reached the “drunken sailor” level. Absurdity. Debt to GDP levels have reached the hope to service the interest on the debt, with little hope of paying off the principle of the growing debt.
Meanwhile, and seemingly contradictory, the various stock exchanges are at record highs as this added Government spending and money printing adds to an imbalances of wealth distribution and liquidity.
Whats is going on?
We all know the largest demographic, the “Boomers” are heading into the sunset. What is less obvious is these Boomers are 50% of the population with 50% of the wealth. They are known to be the largest voting block. The Boomers savings (RSPs, TFSAs, vacation homes etc) must be protected. This is an unspoken Government policy.
Governments across the G20 are adding deficits to debt, devaluing their currencies in a downward spiral. Its like using your new VISA card to pay the interest of your overloaded VISA card. The music keeps playing and the Grey haired “gerontocracy” don’t lose their wealth.
The wealth distribution curve within this system however has become unbalanced; the poor got poorer, the middle class trap hits hard while the wealthy are recipients of government largess (subsidies, COVID funding etc). It is reasonable to state that Government policy reflects this wealth inequality… and starts to take on elements of the absurd.
Take away one thing today. Demographics are inescapable. The “Boomers” are 50% of the population with 50% of the wealth. They are retired, retiring and writing their wills. This holds for all G20 nations.
View everyhting in this context. So do we have a housing shortage or is it an affordable housing shortage? By affordable we mean a price / interest rate affordable to the middle class and below.
If the Boomers, 50% of the population are dying over the next ten years what is happening to all their houses?
If our immigration numbers remain low and birth rate is low who exactly needs a house?
If companies and workers (after COVID) are not going back to the office, is there alot of Corp Real Estate that needs repurposing?
Old thinking takes time to change. “Housing starts” remains an economic indicator. As is GDP. Many of you have heard of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The simple math of a country’s GDP includes all private and public consumption, government outlays etc. The point raised here is increasing Government spending including 8 deficits and $650B artificially printed into circulation. This is now “normalized” as the 2-3% of GDP growth. Let that sink in. Debt is growth.
Where does this government spending go? Lets turn to the news. How much is the current PM, Justin Trudeau giving out to build new houses? How much is Doug Ford giving out to Ontario Place developers to take away park land for wealthy interests? Where does all this spending go? It adds to Ontario’s, Canada’s debt, adding to the debt servicing costs, and we can assume adding to your taxes. This adds to the inequality. gap.
When politicians speak of supporting the economy regarding houses they are “subsidizing” deveopers businesses with more debt. New Houses is the current political game. The reality does not support it. This reality is with a 50% dying population, low birth rate and low immigration.
The absurdity factor is also when developers run out of space to build. We start paving over parks (Ontario Place) and cutting down forests (Muskoka). We put in parking for shopping malls for new $750,000-$1M houses (at rates of 6-7%) Yet do we need these houses at all?
In the Fourth Turning, this absurdity is a known step in a stage. It demonstrates the end of old thinking and the failure of old institutions. The Fourth Turning is also the emergence of the new. This long term cycle has happened over and over for thousands of years. Empires, countries grew, printed, devalued their currencies, adding to social inequality and social unrest, collapsing and starting anew.
The question is binary: will it be reasonable via evolution, or will it be revolution as Ray Dalio, Mark Cuban and The Fourth Turning predict?
Lets keep in mind, we had previously decided to plant millions of trees due to climate change not tear them down for empty parking lots servicing empty estates.