PelhamToday received the following letter from a reader regarding the Ontario Farmland Trust .
The Ontario Farmland Trust is totally correct, but I would suggest it is not only ‘concerning’ but an impending catastrophe that a once self-sufficient Canada will not survive.
Canada has enjoyed one of the best and most diverse agricultural economies in the world for generations, one of the very few nations that could have continued to benefit from that success if successive governments had shown any interest in supporting agriculture in these present days. Of course, they just do not.
Any successful agricultural economy success story no longer buys enough votes and far too few potential voters in both agricultural and rural communities to be worth investing in.
Sadly, the short-term gains of development at any costs, based on no plausible evidence, continue to devalue and debase the lasting concept of any sound agricultural policies.
Unfortunately, the author bases his open letter on a government that he still believes may listen to him and take notice.
All the available evidence indicates that not a single government, at any level in Ontario, could care less about anything other than development anywhere, anytime and the sooner, the better.
Whilst it is easy to just point the finger at the Ford government for this assault on our dwindling agricultural acreage, it has been happening for years.
Just as Ford is acting on advice and recommendations from his provincial planning staff, those same planning staff, at regional and municipal levels, have been abusing all Official Plans, Zoning Bylaws and particularly, recommended Land Use policies for years.
Town and city planners are not interested in the environment, only in revenue and the new and easy ‘revenue stream’ they recommend is ‘good planning’ and recommend planning to an ever-increasing body of disinterested and uninformed elected Mayors and Councilors who are ignorant of what they approve, usually without even questioning those recommendations. Future property taxes as a new ‘revenue stream’ only benefits one group economically, and that’s an ever-growing town hall staff.
Is no one taking notice of the increasing number of residents in so many diverse city, urban, rural and particularly agricultural communities protesting and questioning when they hear of a proposed development for the first time, only after their elected council has approved it?
These are the ‘NIMBY’s,' Ford’s chosen ‘deplorables,' who no longer have a right to live in the community they chose to live in, whether generational families or new families, who found a special place to make their homes in?
Homes that not only this Ford government but also their own local Councils mandate they no longer have any right to want to protect.
I live on one road in a rural community with few existing rural homes. There is a field that grew crops up until recently, with a brand new single detached residence being built. No public input, no public meetings, just a new development which conflicts directly with a provincial policy that prohibits development on any agricultural lands.
A second 10-acre field, where crops were grown only last year, has just been sold. The realtor’s description, ‘..a 10-acre country site to build your own dream home…’ Again, totally in conflict with every land use policy regarding rural lands, never mind agricultural lands, in the Niagara Region.
I wonder who the purchaser maybe? With our planners having closed-door pre-planning meetings with all prospective buyers and developers, can anyone doubt this has almost certainly been purchased by an investment company, having already been advised that when they wish to apply to build a sub-division, they will be approved?
Ford is a huge problem for agricultural and rural communities, but he is by no means the first or the worst.
Those local planners we employ and pay for with our tax dollars, who have no interest or concern for the communities they supposedly ‘serve,’ have already been actively destroying both agricultural and rural lands against the intent of provincial, regional and municipal policies for years, and increasingly supported by politicians we continue to elect to protect our best interests!
Wake up, Canada! When our agriculture and farmers can no longer sustain us, who do you think will provide us with cheap, fresh produce on a daily basis?
Andrew Watts
Wainfleet
