Ontario Green Party leader Mike Schreiner (Photo courtesy Ontario Green Party)Ontario Green Party leader Mike Schreiner (Photo courtesy Ontario Green Party)
Midwestern

Rally scheduled in Owen Sound to protest Bill 23

The leader of the Ontario Green Party will join environmental advocates at an Owen Sound protest to save farmland and wetlands from development opened up by Bill 23.

Guelph MPP Mike Schreiner says provincial policies will see conservation lands sold off without oversight, and conservation authorities stripped of their powers.

“Ford refuses to listen to the experts, and instead is bulldozing over Ontario’s decreasing farmland and wetlands allowing a handful of land speculators to profit at the rest of Ontario’s expense,” said rally organizer Danielle Valiquette. “Bill 23 will devastate farmland, all while doing almost nothing to build more affordable homes as it is positioned. Ford’s own housing affordability task force has made it clear that we can build the homes we need within existing urban boundaries, and not on the farmland and wetlands that perform vital environmental and agricultural functions–like feed us!”

The rally will be held  Thursday January 19, 2023 from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. starting at the Gitche Namewikwedong Bridge (10th Street Bridge) in Owen Sound.

Last week, Schreiner joined incoming Ontario NDP leader and Davenport MPP Marit Stiles, along with Ontario Interim Liberal leader and MPP for Ottawa South John Fraser in asking the Auditor General to assess financial and environmental impacts of Greenbelt land development.

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