You can't support sustainability without allowing for, and planning for growth. If only the envirowackos understood this better.
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Posted on 11/02/2005 6:36:03 AM PST by GreenFreeper
TORONTO — Unchecked population growth and a badly flawed planning system are endangering Ontario’s wildlife, forests and water and posing a threat to living standards, the province’s environmental czar said Tuesday.
In his annual report, Environmental Commissioner Gord Miller questioned the wisdom of what he considers Ontario’s unbridled expansion.
“To what degree can certain regions in Ontario, especially southern Ontario, sustain and assimilate this relatively unchecked growth?” Miller said. The provincial Finance Ministry projects up to six million more people will call Ontario home over the next 25 years, most in the Toronto area.
That’s a 50 per cent increase over the province’s current population of 12 million but there’s been little debate about the “enormously significant” issue, Miller said, noting that such forecasts essentially dictate how the province plans for land use.
“Why aren’t we talking about the ramifications?” There’s no compelling evidence that economic prosperity depends on an ever-increasing population, said Miller, who painted a grim picture of a sprawling, gridlocked southern Ontario choking on polluted air and unable to contain its own sewage and garbage.
Raising the issue of population growth doesn’t amount to an attack on immigration, but it’s a serious problem no one wants to talk about, he said. “It stuns me that the topic of sustainability and the future of our lifestyle and environment is a forbidden topic.”
David Caplan, the province’s minister for public infrastructure, said Ontario is the third-fastest growing region in North America. He said the province has a growth plan in place to better manage its expansion while mitigating potential damage. “Without this plan, we would see some of the detrimental effects,” Caplan said. “Having the kind of plan that we’ve developed . . . allows us to manage it in an effective way.”
Nonetheless, environmental groups were quick to support Miller’s call for a debate on the issue. “We need a national ‘smart-growth’ policy,” said Dan McDermott, Ontario director of the Sierra Club of Canada.
While the government has made some positive changes, Miller called it a “serious flaw” that the Liberals don’t classify infrastructure projects such as highways as development for planning purposes. The result is that highways and hydro lines can be pushed through woodlands, wetlands and other environmentally sensitive areas with little regard for the impact on the environment, he said. Paul Muldoon, executive director of the Canadian Environmental Law Association, said it’s time for “sober reflection” on the pressures society is putting on the environment.
“Why do developers get free rein?” said Muldoon. “Why aren’t the planning rules stronger to protect the environment?” Miller saved his harshest criticism for the Ministry of Transportation, citing a damaging expansion of Highway 400 as an example of the government’s attitude toward the environment.
“An entire highway construction project was built with little or no regard for environmental rules, by people who weren’t properly trained, under the supervision of a ministry that doesn’t appear to understand its own obligations under environmental law,” he said. The Sierra Legal Defence Fund said the report “paints a truly troubling picture of a province whose lax laws and conflicted policies have undermined its attempt to safeguard our environment.”
© Copyright by Chronicle Journal.com
You can't support sustainability without allowing for, and planning for growth. If only the envirowackos understood this better.
ECO-PING
FReepmail me to be added or removed to the ECO-PING list!
The Peoples Republic of Canada, OH OH! Canada. Hail Paul
Martin. Canada would be a better country with fewer people
in Ontario to vote for the corrupt Liberal Party.
You see what happens after the migration of US liberals to Canada, LOL.
("Denny Crane: Gun Control? For Communists. She's a liberal. Can't hunt.")
As a former resident of southwest Ontario who was a firsthand witness to the exploding population of the area due to unchecked immigration, as well as the loss of formerly pristine areas to resulting development (SW Ontario has the only prairie grasslands in Ontario, and they're fading quick), I am all for the debate Miller is proposing.
Absolutely! If only conservatives would understand the relationship between zoning laws, loss of property rights, the Kelo decision, higher taxes, congestion, failing schools and unchecked immigration and the resulting population growth we might get some sanity. Without mass immigration our population would stabilize. We could quit being taxed to fight an ever losing battle against traffic congestion. There would not be a need to confiscate people's property for redevelopment and there would be no pressure to preserve open spaces along with the property rights eroding zoning laws because open spaces would no longer be disappearing. Without the pressure of enormous numbers of English as a second language students, out schools could perhaps get back to actually teaching reading and math and they would certainly cost less. Almost without exception, larger communities have higher taxes that smaller communities. Why do we want all this growth? It works out to a huge wealth transfer from the American middle class to the wealthy and the third world.
They don't WANT to understand. They WANT people to die! I firmly believe that. They want to see a population reduction, thinking they'll live in some kind of dream paradise world.
It's on record. The extreme environmental NGOs advocate population controls.
Don't matter if we allow old wolf to keep moose/wolf population ratios at 10% or if we limit humans to 10%. Balance of nature mentality will really make us question our future directions and our place on this earth. I don't think the majority of people out there will accept what it holds for the future.
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