Cataraqui Conservation Authority and other local environmental groups are expressing concern about the provincial government’s proposed Bill 23.
“The language as written indicates that there’s a municipal downloading where a lot of that work that the conservation authority provides looking at the holistic region approach of a watershed scale would be dowloaded to municipalities, and so we’re really concerned that the natural hazards piece would be reduced and the overall risk of certain developments especially if they’re planned in an area that’s prone to flooding or erosion, those risks would be increased to both people and property,” says Katrina Furlanetto, Cataraqui Conservation general manager.
Mary Anne Schoenhardt, Queen’s University environmental sciences master's student and member of Kingston Youth Climate Action, says Bill 23 creates a false dichotomy.
“From the provincial government, I don’t want to see Bill 23 passed, it doesn’t address the issue of affordable housing and it totally disregards the environment…setting it up as though we have to choose between housing or the environment because without one we can’t have the other. If we don’t have a healthy environment, it doesn’t matter that we have houses because we can’t live there anyways. We need to consider development and housing in a way that takes care of the environment as well as providing houses to people,” says Schoenhardt.
She adds it doesn’t address the housing affordability crisis.
"It makes land more accessible for developers but this doesn’t really address the housing affordability crisis…Ontario’s housing affordability task force has said access to land isn’t the issue, we have land within city limits, it just needs to be used more efficiently and we just need more dense housing, Bill 23 totally disregards this. The houses that will be built most likely will be this spread of suburbia which isn’t really affordable housing, upper to middle class families can afford those houses, that doesn’t help address affordable housing, it’s really benefiting developers and not the people in Ontario who need housing,” says Schoenhardt.
Furlanetto says natural heritage is also important:
She adds there are creative solutions to move forward with affordable housing without compromising the environment.
“We want to be part of the conversation, we want to look toward those solutions with the municipalities, with the province, and try to come up with a smart, sustainable approach to ensure we have the natural heritage piece included within the planning discussion.”
The bill which has currently has a deferred vote after a third reading in the Ontario legislature aims to build 1.5 million homes over the next 10 years.
A "Stop Bill 23" protest took place outside Kingston City Hall on Sunday morning. Environmental groups including: 350 Kingston, River First YGK, Seniors for Climate Action Now and Kingston Youth Climate Action were at the rally.
“A number of municipalities across Ontario have signed on to a letter saying they oppose Bill 23 because it limits what municipalities can do and the City of Kingston has not signed on to that...we really want to see The City of Kingston sign on to this letter saying that they oppose Bill 23," says Schoenhardt.
CFRC reached out to Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Steve Clark, who proposed Bill 23, but did not receive comment. CFRC also made efforts to contact Kingston Mayor Bryan Paterson but did not receive a response ahead of publication.
Listen to the full CFRC interview with Mary Anne Schoenhardt below: