Dear Editor:
Premier Doug Ford’s Bill 5 was presented as a way to protect Ontario and its economy, but this could not be further from the truth.
This bill can be used for any purpose. It gives the premier and his cabinet the power to exempt any person or business they like from any provincial or municipal law they choose, in as much of the province as they like, for any purpose, based on whatever criteria they decide.
This power grab puts the environment and species at risk and communities across Ontario in grave danger. It opens the door for more provincial corruption and cronyism.
It appears that Premier Doug Ford is once again prioritizing his developer and donor friends over Ontarians and the environment. Bill 5 exempts the Dresden Dump from a necessary, comprehensive environmental assessment. The landfill proponent, York1, has close ties with Ford and his government, and has reportedly donated over $200,000 since 2018 to the Ontario PC party.
Accepting developer dollars, then changing provincial laws to benefit developer projects exemplifies a pattern of corruption we know all too well from the Greenbelt scandal.
The situation in Dresden is just the tip of the iceberg. The passage of Bill 5 means harmful developments are more likely to be approved without knowing the full impact they’ll have on surrounding communities and the environment.
If this project can happen here, it can happen anywhere in Ontario – maybe even your community.
The only reasonable path forward is to repeal Bill 5. Environmental protections are not red-tape, especially when it’s your community’s air and water quality under threat.
Bonnie Lesky,
Fergus