The Silo

Ontario Greens: “Other provinces and countries are way ahead of us”

""Greens will fight to protect the places we love. Let's leave our children the rich natural heritage we have enjoyed." image: redd-monitor.org
“”Greens will fight to protect the places we love. Let’s leave our children the rich natural heritage we have enjoyed.” image: redd-monitor.org

 

ONTARIO CAN’T AFFORD TO DELETE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTIONS    (Queen’s Park): Trashing Ontario’s Endangered Species Act is unacceptable, says Green Party of Ontario leader Mike Schreiner.

“We can’t let the Wynne government bulldoze environmental protections,” says Schreiner.

“Greens will fight to protect the places we love. Let’s leave our children the rich natural heritage we have enjoyed.”

Schreiner joined environmental groups in calling on the Premier to reverse a Cabinet decision to grant sweeping exemptions to species protection. Over a thousand GPO supporters have sent letters to the Premier asking her to protect endangered species.

“The Premier failed her first big environmental test,” says Schreiner. “It’s not surprising that the Liberals’ short-sighted attack on endangered species has led to a lawsuit. Breaking their own legislation threatens protections for water, farmland and healthy communities. And the silence from the NDP and PC opposition on these issues is deafening.”

There is a better way to move forward without sacrificing environmental protection. The Green Party agrees with the Drummond Report: user fees should pay for environmental protection. User fees are fair and economical, and they discourage wasteful use of precious natural resources.

The Green Party is also calling on the government to support paying farmers and landowners for environmental good and services that benefit everyone.

“Instead of destroying species or regulating farmers out of business, Ontario should recognize the economic value of environmental goods and services,” says Schreiner. “Once again, other provinces and countries are way ahead of us in protecting what we value most.”  For the Silo, Becky Smit

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One response to “Ontario Greens: “Other provinces and countries are way ahead of us””

  1. Becky Smit Avatar
    Becky Smit

    update- SCHREINER ISSUES CHALLENGE TO PARTY LEADERS: SIGN THE FOOD AND WATER FIRST PLEDGE

    West Perth, ON: It’s time to put food and water first, says Mike
    Schreiner, Green Party of Ontario leader. Schreiner, attending the
    International Plowing Match, has challenged Kathleen Wynne, Tim Hudak
    and Andrea Horwath to step up and commit to protecting prime farmland
    and source water in Ontario. “We can’t eat subdivisions, quarries,
    highways or pipelines,” says Schreiner. “Yet prime farmland is
    disappearing at a rate of 350 acres per day. This is unsustainable –
    it threatens our health, local food security, and our economy. The
    province needs to protect prime farmland before it’s too late.”

    Schreiner is the only provincial party leader to sign The Food & Water
    First Pledge to protect prime farmland and source water. The Food &
    Water First campaign is a citizen led effort inspired by the anti-mega
    quarry campaign. The goal is to have provincial law changed so that
    Class 1 farmland — the most fertile land — is protected in Ontario.

    Only 5 per cent of Ontario’s land mass is suitable for growing food
    and even less — just 0.5% — is prime farmland. Tragically, while the
    local food movement becomes more popular, the rate of farmland loss is
    actually increasing. From 2001 to 2006, the province lost about
    197,000 acres, or about 100 acres per day. From 2006-2011 farmland
    loss increased to 641,980 acres or around 130,000 acres per year. This
    is an annual loss of farmland equal to the size of Toronto.

    Losing farmland not only threatens our ability to feed ourselves, it also jeopardizes our economy, The food and farming sector employs more than 700,000 people and contributes more than $30 billion to Ontario’s
    economy. Yet Wynne, Hudak and Howarth are missing in action when it
    comes to protecting this critical resource.

    “I challenge all political parties to protect Ontario’s prime farmland and water resources by signing the Food and Water First pledge,” says Schreiner. “We need to protect these resources today, so that our kids can continue to eat fresh local food years from now.”

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