Bay Area Economic Summit hosts Ford as keynote speaker
Concerned citizens at the RBG let Ford know he needs to keep his hands off of the Greenbelt and stop expanding urban boundaries that protect valuable farmland, wetlands and endangered species.
Peaceful protestors along Plains Road in front of the RBG Credit: Steve Chalastra
Last Tuesday Doug Ford was the keynote speaker for the Bay Area Economic Summit at the Royal Botanical Gardens (RBG) in Burlington/Hamilton, Ontario.
Concerned citizens showed up with banners and signs to let Ford know that he needs to keep his hands off of the Greenbelt and stop expanding established urban boundaries that protect valuable farmland, wetlands and endangered species.
Steve Chalastra, a member of the Hamilton 350 (H350) steering committee, told Small Change via email that the rally was organized by Environment Hamilton and publicized by groups including Stop Sprawl HamOnt, Save Our Streams, Greenbelt Guardians, GASP and Elders for Climate Sanity (E4CS)
“From my perspective, although H350 is focused primarily on the environment, Ford is a disaster for Ontarians across the board and we have to do whatever we can to protest his policies and to try to encourage others to do so, rather than simply letting him think he has a free ride,” Chalastra said.
As for the RBG being the venue, Chalastra did note, “It's ironic given the RBG's mandate and Ford's history of trashing our green spaces and wetlands and knee-capping Ontario's conservation authorities.”
The Ford government has spent, and continues spending, hundreds of billions of dollars on white elephant projects, funding that could be directed to healthcare, education, housing and protecting the environment.
Chalastra maintains Ford’s promise of building 1.5 million new homes is counter-productive as he is willfully ignoring available resources within existing urban boundaries and focusing on removing green space, farmlands and wetlands in order to create unaffordable housing stock that benefits developers and causes more sprawl. That, in turn, exacerbates the root causes of the climate crisis.
“To add insult to injury, when Ontario's independent energy regulator, the Ontario Energy Board (OEB), recognized that building new fossil fuel infrastructure makes no sense from an economic and environmental perspective and consequently rejected Enbridge's request for an across-the-board rate increase, Ford simply used his parliamentary majority to overturn the ruling and muzzle the OEB,” Chalastra observed.
Chalastra is referring to Bill 165: Keeping Energy Costs Down Act, which will increase 'natural gas' costs for consumers. It will also accelerate the climate crisis and impede Ontario’s transition to a green economy.
You can hear my Earth Day interview about Bill 165 with Hamilton environmentalist Don Mclean here.
“This autocratic behaviour is blatantly undemocratic, and we're seeing it time and again with this government. Bill 162: the ‘Get It Done’ Act, Bill 165: the ‘Keeping Energy Costs Down’ -- more irony! -- Act, and Bill 185: ‘Cutting Red Tape to Build More Homes’ — a.k.a. sprawl — Act,” said Chalastra.
In addition to participating in the rally, H350 members were also developing relationships with like-minded individuals and groups to establish and grow a collation of seemingly disparate groups, reminiscent of the Days of Action movement during the Mike Harris years, in order to heighten awareness to Ford’s destructive policies.
Chalastra believes those relationships are imperative given the fact that Ontarians may be heading into an early provincial election with Ford and the Conservatives still riding high in the polls.
Environment Hamilton member, Peter Appleton, was involved in organizing the rally.
Appleton estimates about 40 folks showed up to the rally. Many of the peaceful rabble rousers are members of the RBG, yet they were prevented from entering the building. Halton Regional Police (HRP) told protestors to stay at an entrance located to the left of, and far away from, the main entrance otherwise they would be arrested and escorted to the sidewalk where they could continue protesting.
“We were not surprised by these tactics, it’s clear that the RBG wanted some sort of financial recompense versus respecting the rights of their members. It was suggested that our memberships would be revoked on site and refunded should we attempt to use the facilities, Appleton told Small Change via email.
Appleton organized and attended the rally because he knows that protecting wetlands is paramount to slowing down the climate crisis and ensuring the biodiversity of insects, plants, animals and birds.
“We have decimated 97 per cent of wetlands in southern Ontario. Wetlands are the most biodiverse regions in our ecosystem. Our farmland is precious and unique, the prime level designation for the areas surrounding Hamilton CAN NEVER be replaced once they're gone. Food is more and more expensive and food security is paramount for people of all financial backgrounds,” stated Appleton.
“More sprawl outside of the urban boundary means more roads, more services -- water, sewers, etc. -- and ALL of it will be paid for by tax payers as these services age. Widening and making more roads puts our climate risk at even worse levels than we have now. Hamilton has several hundred acres of infill areas that can be used for warehouses and housing WITHIN our boundary,” Appleton added.
Of course, Elders for Climate Sanity (E4CS) was well represented at the rally. I had the great good fortune to speak once again with Don Brown (98) who was arrested along with Sue Markey (78), Rose Janson and Gail Lorimer on March 22nd for speaking truth to power when they held a climate rally inside the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) in Dundas, Ontario to demand RBC divest from coal, oil and gas.
Hear my full interview with Brown and Markey here.
Brown was in fine form alternating between RBC divest and save the Greenbelt signs as he participated in the rally.
98-year-old climate activist Don Brown protests at RBG Credit: Steve Chalastra
Brown let me know that E4CS will be back in court on August 14, 2024 at the Provincial Offences Offices to address their trespass to property charges and supporters are welcome.
Brown knows the five big banks – RBC, CIBC, TD, BMO and Scotia Bank need to divest and stop greenwashing their investments. The worst offender in the world is RBC which invests $42 billion (2022) annually in new coal, oil and gas projects yet only one per cent in renewable energy.
Appleton agrees with Brown stating, “The big five banks continue to tell us that its impossible to break ties with fossil fuel companies, yet many European (EU) countries are doing this already with MUCH less resources than ours.”
“In order to combat climate change we cannot continue to prop up banks records profits by allowing them to destroy our climate with their dirty oil business, all for profit, nothing else, just more greed for the ultra rich,” Appleton added.
Environment Hamilton wants folks to remember the Greenbelt scandal and Bill 185: Cutting Red Tape to Build More Homes Act when they go to the polls.
Despite the relentless efforts of a whole host of organizations including Environment Hamilton, H350, various Stop Sprawl groups from across the province, Environmental Defence along with city and regional councils, Ford is determined to sprawl onto Greenbelt lands.
Ford walked back that decision last fall only after it was revealed that the Conservative government had given preferential treatment to a small group of well-connected developers who could have profited by more than $8 billion. The RCMP is now investigating Ford.
That decision saved 7,400 acres of farmland, wetlands, endangered species habitat and green space across southern Ontario.
Then, Ford introduced Bill 185 removing intensification targets and discouraging development of affordable housing close to public transit, jobs and essential services within existing communities. Developers were free to build McMansions on large properties outside of established urban boundaries completely ignoring the democratic process, the voices of the people and their municipal representatives.
Instead of installing heat pumps in new home builds Ford has ensured the vast majority of the 1.5 million new homes will be heated by fossil fuels transported by pipelines being paid for by Enbridge customers — and, we are all Enbridge customers because Enbridge is a monopoly. That decision will generate the same amount of pollution as 22 million cars driven for a year, based on the lifespan of fossil fuel furnaces.
The Ford government has also committed $150 billion to large energy and transportation infrastructure projects including Highway 413, the Highway 404-to-400 Bradford Bypass and the Pickering B nuclear station refurbishment. All of these projects have been assessed and declared unnecessary and uneconomical.
Appleton points out that climate change is not something that will happen sometime in the future because it’s here, right now and a very real daily danger.
“It will ALWAYS be our tax dollars that will pay to fix floods, broken hydro lines and overtaxed electrical grids -- due to hotter weather and relentless air conditioning. We must press our leaders at the council to vote NO to further development outside the urban boundary and take the necessary actions,” said Appleton.
Editor’s note: During his speech Ford said anyone could reach him by phoning 647-612-3673.
When I called the number it rang for a very, very, very long time — so be patient — before a jovial recording from Ford said not to leave a message, but to text him instead. And, he promises to get right back to you.
Didn’t make it to the RBG rally? Then, why not text Ford and let him know what you think of his environmental policies. You might also want to comment on his healthcare, education, affordable housing, ODSP/OW, and alcohol policies as well as Ford’s lack of action on declaring femicide an epidemic and to encourage him to finally get around to paying midwives money owed since February 2020 that is intended to remedy midwifery’s historic pay discrimination.
Rally members waiting for Ford to arrive at the RBG. Ford’s driver pulled up to this entrance then promptly sped away taking the Premier to a delivery entrance where OPP officers were waiting to escort him inside.
Credit: Doreen Nicoll
Editor’s note: Thanks to Ian Borsuk, Executive Director of Environment Hamilton, for bringing to my attention that the Hamilton 350 committee were the primary organizers of the RBG rally and did all the heavy lifting to make the event a success.
Thank you for making the time to read today’s article. With your continued support, a little Nicoll can make a lot of change!
Great coverage...Brava!!
Perfect that Doug had to arrive via a delivery entrance! Those protesters sure are scary!