Dear readers, I've tried, God knows I've tried to like Doug Ford in 2020. These have been trying times for leaders in government who've had to make decisions about the COVID-19 crisis which require wisdom and yet have been expected to do so at breakneck speed. In the first couple of months I gave Premier Doug a grade of B or even a B+, which is really high praise because leaders who deserved an A were few and far between, and seemed to live on islands. Since the summer my assessment has drifted toward a C or a C- because of the confusing messages about restrictions, the boondoggle about school reopening, and the continuing mess regarding long-term care.
This morning I'm giving Premier Ford a resounding F, for the terrible decisions regarding environmental policy, and you can decide what the F stands for. Sometime today Bill will be addressed in the legislature, a bill which is supposedly about pandemic response but includes Schedule 6 of Bill 229 which undermines the work of the 36 Conservation Authorities across the province. This legislation is literally called the Protect, Support and Recover from COVID-19 Act yet it sneakily includes measures which will undermine the work to protect water quality and and flood management carried out by Conservation Authorities.
Schedule 6 is incredibly short-sighted, given that Climate Change is resulting in more flood events in the province and actually adding funding makes more sense than reducing it. And many of us can recall the disaster of Walkerton when another Conservative government senselessly undermined water quality safeguards, leading to illness and death in that community.
David Crombie
As a result of this deceitful and dangerous legislation the chair of the Greenbelt Council in Ontario, David Crombie (the former politician, not the aging rock legend), and six other members of the council have resigned. I listened to Crombie, a member of the Order of Canada, this morning and he expressed his dismay that this government is threatening the environment of which we are all a part with Schedule 6.
During Creation Time this year I led a worship service at Trenton United Church, the congregation we attend, on the theme of Watershed Discipleship. I reminded our in-person and virtual worshippers that we need to celebrate and protect the precious, God-given gifts of water and our watersheds.
I have written our MPP, Todd Smith, and the premier, asking that Schedule 6 be removed, even though I have little confidence that these people listen. You may recall that during the election Ford promised that he would not undermine the integrity of the Green Belt. Hmm. I hope that the "Regressive Conservatives" appreciate that we won't let this go away.
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