It’s always an honour to rise in this House. This morning, I am going to speak to Bill 69.

I am imagining some of us are a little bleary-eyed from the fantastic overtime win of the Toronto Maple Leafs. I think it’s always good to start the morning with some pretty good news. So go, Leafs, go. Speaker, 1967—we need to get a cup sometime soon in this province, not just this city.

Thank you for indulging me to talk about the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Back to the bill that I’m here to discuss: the government’s Bill 69. I honestly have to say that this bill is not very clear in what the problem is that it’s trying to address. The part that I’m going to speak to particularly is the schedule that will waive the 30-day consultation period that the minister is required—when they’ve gone through an environmental assessment process.

We have seen that this is a government that nobody trusts when it comes to the environment. Their track record is certainly abysmal when it comes to the environment, and they’re continuing to build on that brand of a government that will stop at nothing—development at all costs, even if that means cost to taxpayers, whether it’s residential taxpayers or provincial taxpayers. Whether the cost is loss of wetlands, whether the cost is environmental degradation, there’s nothing that will stop this government from pausing when it comes to protecting the environment.

Our opinion here on this side of the House is that while you are bulldozing forward on all of your assaults on the environment, a pause of 30 days should not be too much to ask for the people of the province of Ontario.

We’ve seen a government that has no regard for Ontario’s greenbelt. You’ve taken 7,400 acres out of greenbelt protection; 1,400 of those acres are in Hamilton. The excuse is that you need to build housing, but it has been made quite clear that there is already enough land to build all of the housing that Ontario needs within the existing lands.

The question remains: Why are you opening up the greenbelt? There are certainly some important questions that need to be answered about who owns those lands, when those were purchased and, now that they have been taken out of protections, who is going to benefit, who is going to reap the rewards. It’s certainly not the people of the province of Ontario. It’s going to be, apparently, developers who were wise enough to buy land just before those greenbelt protections were taken away.

Those are some of the questions—that is the cloud that is over this government when it comes to any decisions they make when it comes to the environment.

Simply put, this government cannot be trusted when it comes to the interests of Ontario’s environment.

The purpose of the 30-day waiting period, which is required currently under the Environmental Assessment Act, is to ensure that the minister takes the time needed to consider what the public has to say following a class environmental assessment process. Prior to making a decision, the 30 days should give the minister time to pause to consider all of the information that has been submitted as part of the EA. These public comments come from not only experts in the field but people who live in the community, people who are on the ground and understand what’s at risk. The people take the time to write to the minister, to have their considered comments submitted in the best interests of the province and future generations, and we feel that it would be courteous, if nothing less, for the minister to take the time to consider these comments.

In addition, when we waive that 30-day period, this takes away the people of the province of Ontario’s opportunity to request a bump-up, which means to take this from an EA to a full environmental assessment.

As we know, the things that are happening willy-nilly and pell-mell and so quickly in this province thanks to this government when it comes to the environment—we certainly need to make sure that the people of the province of Ontario understand their rights under the Environmental Bill of Rights and that they have the opportunity to access them.

Further watering down of the Environmental Bill of Rights from this government, or seeing them watering down these rights, are also par for the course. There are basically no environmental protections left in the province of Ontario—none whatsoever. The people in the province need to understand that the Environmental Bill of Rights is still standing, so far, but this is one step in dismantling it or weakening it.

I’d just like to add that the Environmental Bill of Rights is something that’s a legacy of a previous NDP government. It was put in place because the NDP government understands what’s at risk for this current generation and future generations, and we understand that the people of the province of Ontario have a right to weigh in on lands that belong to them, not to the government.

I would advise everyone who has any concerns when it comes to the environment to understand that you still have rights existing under the Environmental Bill of Rights. You have the right to be consulted when it comes to the environment—issues that will impact the environment.

This change, waiving the 30 days, effectively says that you no longer have the right to be consulted or informed, because the government is basically saying, “We already made our decision, and we are not planning to listen to what you have to say.”

We have seen that this is not the first time that this government has shown absolute contempt for the environmental assessment. The government has been found to have broken the law two or perhaps three times when it comes to the Environmental Assessment Act, which is a law in the province of Ontario. It’s quite clear they don’t have respect for the environment, for the people of the province of Ontario, and certainly they do not have respect when it comes to laws that are in place and still standing in the province.

We have a government that currently has Bill 23, which is a bill that relied almost entirely on deregulation and developer tax cuts to incentivize delivering 1.5 million homes in this province.

To be perfectly clear, we need housing in this province. We need all kinds of housing. We need to have affordable housing, co-op housing. There is a dire need for rent-geared-to-income housing, single-family homes—the whole continuum of housing. That is what’s needed in this province.

We have a homelessness crisis in the city of Hamilton. As best we can tell, there are 1,500 people who are currently homeless, living on the streets. We see them, as many of us will see in our communities—people living on street corners with their tents and sleeping bags, just trying to find a place to exist. In Hamilton, there are only 500 shelter beds. The government’s cuts to social housing supports are only making this problem worse.

When it comes to building housing, what we see is a government that has made changes that will download the costs to municipalities. Residential taxpayers will now pay the costs, because when you take away the obligation of developers to pay for development, to pay for the things that development needs, that is a cost to the taxpayers. There’s nobody else who can pay this but the taxpayers.

That’s why Bill 69, which takes people’s rights away when it comes to the environment, is a direct attack on people’s ability to protect their pockets—to protect downloading cost to residential taxpayers. Bill 69 is a further erosion of people’s ability to not have to just bear tax costs that this government decides they’re going to download and also to not have to bear the environmental degradation that they see in their province.

I think it’s important to know that this government also, when it comes to the environment—there are many assaults on the environment, but none more egregious than when it comes to conservation authorities. People should understand that conservation authorities work in an integrated way across the province to manage our flood plains and our wetlands and to manage our protected areas. They have a history in the province, with 60-plus years of doing this work. But this government has basically kneecapped all of their ability to weigh in when it comes to protecting the environment. The conservation authorities that have dedicated the mission of their organizations to protecting the environment and to protecting people from floods is now being transformed by this government to disallow them from weighing in when it comes to climate impacts on their lands. They’re not allowed to comment on that. For example, when the conservation authorities are weighing in on potential development, they can’t comment on anything beyond the scope of hazard.

I would like to point to the news that we heard this morning: that the government, who is trying to destroy the Ontario Science Centre and build on those lands, has heard from the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority that those lands cannot be built on. They’re a flood plain, and they’re ravines and protected areas.

That’s the kind of work that the conservation authorities across the province do, and that’s the kind of information that this government doesn’t want to hear. We know that they don’t want to hear from the people of the province of Ontario, because they’re waiving the 30 days. They don’t want to hear from conservation authorities; they’re muzzling them and their ability to weigh in. They do not want to have any opinions but their own when it comes to delivering for their friends and for developers at the expense and at the risk of Ontarians and future Ontarians.

I think that the perfect example is the Duffins Rouge Agricultural Preserve. This government took away the protections in that area to build. Right beside the Duffins Rouge Agricultural Preserve are also federal lands—Rouge park, which is federal. Recognizing that the provincial government cannot be counted on to protect our lands, the federal government has weighed in and has initiated a study on these lands that will prepare them in the eventuality that this government will build on these protected lands.

So we have lost the ability of the conservationists to weigh in. We are now relying on the federal government to make moves to protect us in the Duffins Rouge Agricultural Preserve area.

When it comes to the Bradford Bypass and Highway 413, we need the federal government to be the sober second thought.

With this bill, we have the people of the province of Ontario—their input is being disregarded, and I would say that is something that should be a concern for all of us. When your government is saying to you, “We’re going to go ahead and do this whether you like it or not. Despite what you say, despite your objections, despite your knowledge and your expertise in this area, we’ve already made our mind up. We are going to move forward with this development,” that is absolutely not the way to be in this province.

I would also like to say that when it comes to transparency—well, this government is no friend of transparency. They’re using taxpayers’ dollars to fight all the way to the Supreme Court to keep closed the mandate letters—mandate letters which will tell the people of the province of Ontario what this government is planning to do with their taxpayer dollars. This government is using taxpayers’ money to fight taxpayers at the Supreme Court because they don’t want to have any eyes on what they’re doing.

This bill is just another step in this government’s lack of interest in hearing from anybody but themselves or their friends.

We heard similar messages at committee. This bill did go to committee. That’s pretty exciting, because sometimes this government bypasses committee.

I know that with Bill 197, which was an omnibus bill that jammed through a lot of changes that apply to the environmental assessment, they didn’t even send that bill to committee.

This bill did go to committee. We heard from a lot of stakeholders. I’ll just read some of those into the record now because perhaps the government may be interested in listening, despite what their legislation says—that they don’t want to listen to the people of the province of Ontario.

Some of the summary of recommendations that came from committee on Bill 69, Reducing Inefficiencies Act, was essentially—people were saying, “Do not allow the minister to waive the 30-day waiting period following a class environmental assessment comment period before any action ... can be taken.” People are saying, “We are concerned that allowing the minister to bypass the 30-day waiting period would expose principal decision-makers to unnecessary pressure as they become solely and personally responsible for consequential decisions.”

General comments were made:

“Environmental assessments are needed more than ever, and should not be made easier to bypass....

“We are concerned that the Ontario government, in its efforts to reduce inefficiencies, is increasing the potential for environmental mistakes, while at the same time reducing its accountability to the people of Ontario....

“We are concerned that this change has been introduced without prior consultation, and without full public accounting of the implications, including data regarding the current class EA process, and how frequently projects are referred for an individual EA.”

That’s a summary of the recommendations, and it really speaks to some of the things that I was saying. People are not supportive of watering down their rights, when it comes to the environment and their right to be able to weigh in.

Certainly, given the rapid change in the environment—climate change—we need to be careful. We need to be moving carefully.

This government is bulldozing ahead on these changes, but we have reports—the Auditor General, in fact, has two reports that people should be aware of. One is to do with flooding in the province of Ontario. We are, as a province, not protecting people when it comes to flooding, currently. The ministry doesn’t have the adequate resources to map flood plains, and they don’t have the adequate resources to inform people in the province. So the Auditor General’s report says that we’re already failing when it comes to flood protection for the people of the province of Ontario.

Now we have a government that’s potentially planning to build on or near flood plains, as has been described by the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority, when it comes to the lands around the Ontario Science Centre.

So, absolutely, we need to consider these steps—that the consequences and the mistakes that this government will be making are something that we should be, as legislators, protecting people from.

I would like add into the record some other comments that we received.

The Mississaugas of Scugog Island First Nation wrote to the committee, and they had significant concerns with this bill. They said, in part, “A 30-day waiting period for class environmental assessment projects is the prudent way to provide decision-makers with time and space to carry out thorough evaluations of all angles relevant to policy proposals. Consequently, the likelihood of high-quality decisions is dramatically increased” when the waiting period is left. “Stripping this 30-day waiting period from the environmental assessment process threatens a sound decision-making process for a variety of reasons....”

They conclude by saying, “Decisions that impact the environment must transcend political interests more than any other policy area. In the interest of public good, these decisions must be protected from the influence of third parties, for example developers, that are monetarily incentivized to achieve an outcome that does not consider long-term consequences. The 30-day waiting period for class environmental assessment projects is the minimal safeguard that protects government decisions from short-sighted interests and influences and, as a consequence, strengthens politicians and our democracy as a whole.”

I couldn’t agree more with these strong comments.

They conclude by saying, “For reasons outlined above,” the Mississaugas of Scugog Island First Nation “strongly urges the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks to keep the 30-day waiting period for class environmental assessment projects. It is in the interests of the environment, the public, and our democracy to do so.”

Finally, I would like to read into the record commentary from the Ontario Federation of Agriculture. We understand that in this province the Ontario Federation of Agriculture, for generations, has been protecting the land they live and farm on. We should be listening to what they have to say, and they are quite clear in saying, “We are opposed to these proposed amendments that would provide the ability to eliminate, waive or alter the 30-day waiting period following the comment period of a class environmental assessment. It is essential that there is time for a proponent to review and appropriately consider the submitted comments.”

They close by saying, “Public participation is a critical component of environmental decision-making. Failure to allow for meaningful participation can lead to resentment, animosity, or ambivalence. The system must allow for meaningful participation to empower all those involved, from the concerned citizen to the corporate proponent to the government (at all jurisdictions).... The ability to eliminate this 30-day waiting period effectively negates any public participation in this process.”

I couldn’t agree more with the Ontario Federation of Agriculture. This government—

Thank you to the member for the question.

The thing that this government is doing is creating a fantastic cover story for the assaults that they are making on the environment. They purport that it is all about housing and it’s all about long-term care.

Do you know what? This government has been in power for five years. The conditions in long-term care are on your watch.

There is no need to build on the greenbelt, no need to build on wetlands, no need to expand into green areas, into farmland, when experts, including your own housing task force, have said that you have more than enough existing land to build the housing that is needed in the province of Ontario.

This is a perfect example of this government rushing into plans that they had not made transparent and that are going to benefit—who? We don’t know.

For example, when it comes to moving the science centre from that area in Flemingdon or destroying the science centre building, experts have said that’s a bad idea, that’s a bad plan.

Who thinks this is a good idea? I’m going to say that it’s the private corporation that is now going to get a 95-year lease at Ontario Place. This government won’t even release the details of this lease. I would say that those are the people who will be happy with this.

Future generations and homeowners, perhaps, who end up with a house on a flood plain might not be so happy.

Absolutely; we, together, know what a crisis we’re facing in Hamilton when it comes to affordable housing—social housing, in fact.

The project that you reference, in fact—I was on that committee, trying to identify surplus land that the city of Hamilton owned and would be able to put forward to build affordable housing units.

We also know that there’s the HATS group, the Hamilton Alliance for Tiny Shelters, that is putting forward a solution, trying to find an appropriate location to build tiny shelters that are a temporary solution for all the homeless people in our province.

People are coming up with good solutions and good ideas. Everyone is trying to address this problem.

Financing is a huge issue. That’s a delay that these organizations face, as well.

A 30-day waiting period that you’re trying to waive is not the magic wand that’s all of a sudden going to make all of the social housing units that we need appear.

I would say that the organizations like Stop Sprawl in Hamilton, Save our Streams—these are people who are very thoughtful and very knowledgeable about the issue and are very concerned about the supply of all kinds of housing in the province.

It has been made clear by professional planners and the government’s own housing task force that Hamilton has enough space within the urban boundaries to build 110,000 units. So we have the land we need. We have the space.

What we need is a government that’s more focused on building and incentivizing people when it comes to finances than they are on enriching developers by making their land now developable.

I would say to the member, with all due respect, absolutely nobody is buying this cover story.

In the province of Ontario, have we been building? Yes. Have things got shovels in the ground? Absolutely. So this notion that with those two months of construction time—by the way, we have a lot longer construction period in the province.

Waiting 30 days to do it properly, to listen to the people of the province of Ontario, to make sure the people who are moving into a long-term-care facility aren’t, in fact, putting themselves at risk, because they’re on a flood plain—what does it harm the government to do your job, to take the time to do the due diligence that is your responsibility, to protect the environment and to protect the people of the province of Ontario?

I am saddened today to rise and discuss a member of my family, Captain Craig Bowman, and his battle with cancer. My cousin is a firefighter who has been diagnosed with esophageal cancer, like many firefighters unfortunately are. Craig and his family are being denied coverage by WSIB because he does not meet the 25-year threshold for presumptive coverage. Craig has been a firefighter for 22½ years. Prior to his recent diagnosis of esophageal cancer, which has metastasized to his liver, Captain Craig was a very fit 46-year-old man. His prognosis is very poor. He has been denied WSIB on a presumptive case, despite five letters from doctors. The lengthy process of an appeal could take many precious months, and this family needs the help now.

In 1997, another hero, Bob Shaw, inhaled dangerous chemicals during the Plastimet fire that would result in esophageal cancer that would take his life. Bob’s battle came to the attention of his local MPP, Andrea Horwath. Partisan differences were put aside, and the Bob Shaw Law was created that makes WSIB coverage for certain cancers presumptive.

Today we have another local hero, Captain Craig Bowman. He is not getting presumed coverage because he has only been a firefighter for 22½ years, not 25.

Once again, as legislators, we need to come together for families such as my cousin Captain Craig’s. We can do better for front-line heroes, who should be spending time with their families and not fighting arbitrary rulings of the WSIB.