Ontario set to remove protections for Pickering’s Duffins Rouge Preserve

Dec 07, 2022

The Ontario Government’s removal of environmental protections for green spaces continued with another bill set to repeal the conservation of Pickering’s Duffins Rouge Agricultural Preserve.

Ontario’s Municipal Affairs Minister Steve Clark has put forward Bill 39, the Better Municipal Governance Act, in Queen’s Park. While the bill’s first and third schedules are concerned with municipal governance, the second is environmental.

The first point would allow the mayors of Toronto and Ottawa to override a city council majority if a bylaw they propose is deemed a “provincial priority,” the so-called strong mayor powers.

The third section would give Clark, and future Municipal Affairs Ministers, the ability to appoint the Regional chair in Niagara, Peel and York. Currently, the regional councils vote for who should be the chair in their first meeting. Conversely, Durham directly elects the Regional Chair.

However, most relevant to Durham Region residents is the second point of the Bill which repeals the Duffins Rouge Agricultural Preserve Act of 2005.

Source : Insauga.com

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