The Justin Trudeau Liberal government has warned it will not hesitate to protect species at risk, and, most recently, suggested it has the authority to stop the Ontario PC government’s Greenbelt carve outs.
But the federal government does not have a consistent record around enforcement of environmental protections, raising concern their words will not be followed by action.
When Bill 23 was brought to the table, proposing a range of changes that would have devastating consequences for the natural environment, a group of scientists banded together to provide crucial information on wetland habitats.
Now that the Bill has passed, limiting the power of conservation authorities, Save Ontario Wetlands is hoping to provide necessary expertise to municipalities when dealing with development proposals.
The TRCA has elected Toronto City Councillor Paul Ainslie as the new Chair of the Board of Directors. The decision comes as conservation authorities are increasingly under fire from the Doug Ford government, which has stripped away many of the powers that previously allowed CAs to safeguard ecosystems against development. They will need to find new and creative ways to continue protecting watersheds across the province.
Housing minister Steve Clark is officially under investigation by the provincial government’s integrity commissioner over his role in legislation that removes 7,400 acres of Greenbelt land for future development.
If the investigation finds wrongdoing, it’s unclear what the outcome will be as any penalty or reprimand against Clark must be approved by a strong PC majority within Queen’s Park.
For three seasons, any hunter with a small game licence and a shotgun has been allowed to kill up to 15 double-crested cormorants a day between September and December.
The PC government, which approved this hunt in 2020, says it is a sound wildlife management practice. However, a closer look at the science behind the decision, or lack thereof, and the near total absence of monitoring of cormorant populations, raises significant concern about the Ford government’s reasons for targeting a native Canadian species.
As the Town of Erin continues to push forward with pre-construction on the wastewater treatment facility, set to be fully operational by 2028, residents of the Town and nearby communities are rallying against the project.
Citizens within the Town are concerned about connection costs while those on the outskirts are worried about depreciated property values. Many are also worried about the threat caused by sending effluent discharge into the West Credit River and what it will do to the surrounding ecosystems.
The consequences of the PC government’s plan to build 1.5 million new homes, regardless of the environmental impacts—driven by the legislative engine known as Bill 23—have been well documented.
But in Niagara, a region flanked by two Great Lakes, the geographic reality means accommodations for development will trigger a domino of impacts in the unique watershed.
At a time when the online exploitation of children is reaching historic levels, a new report details how schools across Canada are failing to protect kids from potential abuse by those who are meant to be mentors in their lives.
The Canadian Centre for Child Protection is calling on governments of all levels to implement new systems to protect children from abuse by educators at school.
When the announcement broke recently that scientists had achieved “ignition” for the first time ever, creating more energy output than the energy used to create the gain, physicists around the world heralded the dawn of a new era in our fight to prevent catastrophic climate change.
As the initial euphoria around nuclear fusion has worn off experts are reminding the world that renewable sources of energy are still the key to dramatically reducing carbon emissions. Fusion should be added to our toolbox for emissions free energy but it might not reach our grid for decades.
Driven by his authoritarian tendencies and disdain for urbanites, Ontario’s Premier is determined to wrest power from large municipalities. Former Brampton councillor Terry Miller warns Peel and other regions that local decision making based on community values is under threat by a man who has his own agenda. He does not care about what the people want.
A recent report from Niagara Region’s planning commissioner, Michelle Sergi, and the subsequent Council decision on it, were a disturbing start to the new municipal term of office. She failed to represent the voices of residents fighting to protect the Greenbelt, instead supporting the Doug Ford government’s desire to remove Niagara portions of the protected land, and even recommended two more parcels of the Greenbelt in the region also be removed for sprawl-style development.
Through a partnership between Osprey Valley and Golf Canada, Caledon will become Canada’s new home for the sport’s national headquarters.
But public and private courses and those owned by municipalities are facing unique challenges, from the demands of the game in a time-starved world to the impacts on greenspaces at a time when sustainability is crucial to the planet’s future.
The slew of legislation imposed by the Ford government, in its effort to push the subdivision development industry’s agenda, will cause wide-ranging damage to the various natural water systems across Ontario.
The consequences to ecosystems and the human population that depends on them will be devastating.
Proactive policing.
It’s not Minority Report, but a reality for specialized police officers across the country trying to catch child predators in an increasingly vast and secretive online world.
Two landmark rulings from Canada’s most powerful court—one at the end of November—have helped level the playing field, giving detectives the green light to continue luring those seeking to do irreparable harm to children.
Canada’s first fully electric vehicle manufacturing plant opened its doors two weeks ago after receiving significant funding from both the federal and provincial government. As the pace of EV take-up seems poised to dramatically accelerate, municipalities need to invest in infrastructure so the public can shift away from carbon-based vehicles.
As COP15 came to a close, nearly 200 nations signed onto the Kunming—Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework which lays out four broad goals and 23 specific targets to achieve worldwide by 2030.
While the 30 by 30 goal — 30 percent of the Earth’s land, oceans, coastal areas and inland waters protected by 2030 — is being celebrated, many remain skeptical about the political and corporate will to achieve the targets.
As public uproar continues in opposition to Bill 23 and changes to Greenbelt legislation, the head of Ontario’s government agency responsible for protecting species at risk has resigned.
It is the latest message aimed at Doug Ford and his PC government, which continues to push aside environmental safeguards to make way for sprawl-style development.
Bill 23 has upended urban planning in Ontario, forcing municipalities to take action against legislation aimed at usurping their authority over local land use.
Environmental organizations and other advocates are trying to fill the knowledge gap so local officials can make the best decisions to protect the province’s remaining greenspaces.
One of the key themes of COP 15 in Montreal is the role that cities can play in protecting biodiversity. Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante formed the Montreal Pledge encouraging cities to take action to protect the natural environment instead of waiting for direction from higher levels of government.
Every day, the human trafficking unit of the Niagara Police tries to find a needle in a haystack. Traffickers, bringing their victims to Niagara to cash in on the transient, bustling tourist scene, are easily able to blend in with the crowd, using one of the region’s hundreds of hotels or motels to conduct their illegal business.
It will take buy-in from across the region and its many tourism sector stakeholders to stop the scourge.
The Province has confirmed to The Pointer that no Record of Site Condition report was submitted by the developer prior to the residential zoning switch last year. The report is required before land-use is changed for a former industrial property, and is supposed to ensure contaminants are identified as part of work to remediate the land to keep the public safe. The Ministry of Environment has confirmed earlier findings of high levels of toxic PCBs leaking from what was formerly a 50-acre manufacturing site.
After the land was bought in 2014, the property owner is finally proposing to mitigate the contamination and limit further leakage from the former GM site, but no official record of the property’s condition has been submitted to the Province.
A report released by Environmental Defence shows Canada will not meet its goal of zero plastic waste by 2030.
Plastic plays a major role in our lives; it’s the responsibility of all levels of government to find creative solutions.
A recent study commissioned by The Atmospheric Fund has exposed the impacts of the PC government’s actions.
While it buys up new environmentally harmful natural gas resources as part of its energy plan, the report shows clean solutions are viable, affordable and reliable alternatives, and the time to act is now.
Closing remarks by the Premier following a transportation announcement in Brampton Wednesday morning strayed from the topic as Doug Ford launched into an attack on Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie, described as misogynistic by many on social media.
She has criticized the PC government's housing plan under Bill 23, which could force the construction of 120,000 new homes in Mississauga by 2031, with property taxpayers on the hook to cover certain infrastructure related costs previously paid by developers. Crombie has decried Ford’s loyalty to powerful builders while ignoring property taxpayers.
Ontario’s Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk has published a stinging audit that determined the Doug Ford PC government is doing very little to fund stormwater infrastructure and provide necessary data for flood mapping, both of which are critical to protecting the province’s 444 municipalities from the increasing risk of flooding due to climate change—a risk that will be exacerbated by the PCs’ misguided housing strategy which will make it easier to destroy wetlands and build subdivisions in floodplains.
Bill 7, The More Beds, Better Care Act, is being constitutionally challenged by the Ontario Health Coalition and the Advocacy Centre for the Elderly, who argue the purpose of the legislation is to intimidate and coerce older adults into giving up their hospital bed.
The Ford government’s plan to carve out certain parcels of land from the Greenbelt is facing scrutiny from a range of stakeholders.
Two MPPs have asked for an investigation by both the Auditor General and the Integrity Commissioner into lobbying actions by developers who bought up land in the Greenbelt, then saw the PCs identify those properties for future subdivisions.
An environmentally significant forest in Welland is at risk of being destroyed by a developer, after the municipality broke its commitment to preserve the land for future generations. The proposal for a three-storey condominium is the latest threat to the area's oasis of greenery and wildlife.
Neighbourhood residents are now fighting back.
Bill 23, the More Homes Built Faster Act is yet another example of the Ford government violating Indigenous and Treaty rights with destructive legislation that has been reported to benefit the developers or land owners involved. Countless First Nations, Inuit, and Metis peoples have come forward in the last few years alone making statements citing disrespect and lack of consultation by the PC government, leading to legal battles.
The Chiefs of Ontario and the Mississaugas of Scugog Island First Nation are the latest to speak out against Bill 23, citing clear violations and blatant disregard for rights over their ancestral and traditional territories.
The PC’s controversial housing legislation has passed at Queen’s Park, mandating urban sprawl onto Ontario’s largest municipalities, compromising climate change goals and threatening vital greenspace.
It also opens the PCs to significant liability, following a lack of consultation, and the possibility of legal challenges.
The 2022 Emissions Gap Report shows targets set in the Paris Agreement are not supported by policies around the world. In Canada, governments on all levels have a responsibility to take swift climate action to prevent further harm to the planet.
While the Region of Peel has a climate action plan in place, its recent decisions have pushed it further from its goals. Ottawa and Queen’s Park have also pursued policies contrary to their climate commitments.
A massive collection of stakeholders across the province has mobilized to fight the Doug Ford PC government and its development industry backers. Their proposed Bill 23 would push the construction of 1.5 million new homes, mostly in the GTHA, in just eight years.
From destroying Southern Ontario’s protected ecosystems and crippling municipalities with unmanageable costs for infrastructure to leaving future residents without services such as healthcare and education, the Bill is being described as the height of reckless decision making.
Crown attorneys are a pillar of the justice system, yet they work with a startling lack of oversight.
Mississauga rapper Avalanche the Architect says the Crown involved in his 2014 trial for uttering threats in connection to his music lost a key piece of evidence that could have swung the ruling in his favour.
The provincial government does not track complaints against Crown attorneys, despite repeated recommendations from the auditor general and professional bodies to do so.
A warming world is a breeding ground for sickness and a playground for vector borne diseases.
As the climate warms at an increasing rate, there may be no stopping these threats to our health from arriving. From our drinking water to impacts on air quality that affect our breathing to mental health, and the cascading risks caused by natural hazards, one particular question researchers in our warming world are asking is fundamental to our future well being: is our healthcare system prepared for the fight?
Premier Doug Ford is backtracking on a promise to not touch Ontario’s protected Greenbelt. A proposed plan could remove 7,400 acres within the lungs that pump fresh air across Southern Ontario.
Ecologically, the PC pledge to “expand” the Greenbelt elsewhere makes no sense, experts say. Meanwhile, the headwaters that arc above the GTA will be devastated if developers are allowed to erase the Greenbelt, one piece at a time.
The PC government’s decision to increase natural gas use for electricity production comes as emissions across most of Southern Ontario make climate targets virtually impossible.
A new report by The Atmospheric Fund shows the province and its municipalities need to dramatically reduce emissions in order to avoid catastrophic impacts.
A long-time resident of Caledon, Kathleen Wilson, decided to create and widely circulate a report card detailing the votes taken by Caledon council members prior to the October 24 municipal election. Her work drew widespread attention across the town with some fully supporting her, and others going out of their way to discredit everything she has done. Wilson is an anomaly, a citizen who believes one person can take a stand to protect the values held by many.
The architect of Ontario’s Greenbelt Plan, Victor Doyle, writes that sweeping changes to the management of Southern Ontario’s growth under Bill 23 were never mentioned during Doug Ford’s provincial election campaign. Despite its profound impact on climate change, the way we move and work and the financial burden shifted to home buyers and property taxpayers, the PC government has neglected to mention the numerous negative consequences its proposed legislation will have on all Ontarians.
The destruction of critical greenspace, higher property taxes and the reduction of future affordable housing were issues of concern raised by key stakeholders in Peel Thursday. They told the provincial government that if left unchanged its proposed Bill 23 will create widespread problems across Ontario.
The CUPE strike has ended and schools have reopened but the Doug Ford government is still at an impasse over how the Canadian Union of Public Employees’ 55,000 education workers should be treated. The PCs have repeatedly cited their motive to protect the well being of students, but residents want to know why this government seems to care so little about the well being of employees who look after those students.
Announced by the PC government, under the recently proposed Bill 23, the new provincial housing target for Brampton is 113,000 units by 2031, a stark increase to the City’s own Draft Official Plan which forecasts 102,000 housing units by 2051. If passed, the legislation would diminish affordable housing goals; and there is no indication of how provincial services and infrastructure, such as hospitals, schools and GO Trains, would be funded to support the massive build-out.
Doug Ford’s PC government is about to gut environmental regulations and the province’s conservation authorities, stripping away safeguards meant to protect the most important natural spaces in Ontario.
The public has been shut out of the process, but the head of the Ontario Headwaters Institute writes that far too much is at stake. Citizens, he says, have to stand up against profit-seeking developers; otherwise the environmental agenda will be destroyed.
The PC government’s new housing Bill is receiving major backlash from politicians, environmental and housing activists alike.
It cuts environmental roadblocks meant to govern development, more proof that Doug Ford and his party do not prioritize the preservation of our natural surroundings.
A study released by Environmental Defence has found, at minimum, close to 30 at-risk species will face dire consequences if Highway 413 is constructed—confirming the results of an investigation completed by The Pointer in 2021.
With the PC government under Premier Doug Ford continuing to show its unwillingness to prioritize environmental action, the advocacy group is turning to the federal government, demanding the project be designated for a full impact assessment, something that could see the project cancelled for good.
After the case was dismissed in February, an Ontario Justice has now awarded The Pointer over $64,000 in legal costs following a $12 million lawsuit brought by a Brampton doctor after reporting showed she spread anti-vaccine information on social media.
The financial demands of learning in a new country, and restrictions on the amount of time an international student is allowed to work, leave many of these newcomers vulnerable to labour and sexual exploitation.
New changes by the federal government could help alleviate some of the pressure, but advocates say Ottawa needs to do more to protect international students.
After a decade of ‘planning’ – including closed in-camera council sessions, questionable land sales, and rushed consulting and construction – the build for Erin’s Wastewater Treatment Facility is underway and predicted to be fully operational by 2028, dumping 7.2 million litres of effluent into the sensitive Missinnihe, or west Credit River, daily.
Hooked up in phases, the Town of Erin and the private sector partner have stated new developments will be connected initially, leaving current residents at the end of the line. After selling the lands for the Water Resource Recovery Facility (WRRF) to the Town for just $2, Solmar Development Corp. is one of three builders that will be serviced first.
With the decision of Walter Sendzik to step down from his mayor’s seat, three candidates are vying for the position in the upcoming municipal election.
One of them, Mike Britton, has a slew of green policies he plans to roll out, if he’s elected.
A recent article in The Pointer Niagara detailed Freedom of Information documents that exposed the extent of backroom activity between mayor Walter Sendzik, developers and senior staff who tried to push a major mixed-use community on the contaminated former GM lands, with little regard for the public’s health. They need to be held accountable for how they have mishandled the project.
With the population expected to grow by about 50 percent by 2051, urban growth is inevitable across the Greater Golden Horseshoe. This will put immense pressure on our land, wildlife and watersheds.
A new tool developed by the Ontario Headwaters Institute provides a glimpse into the future of our province—for better or worse.
