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Find and use your favorite today!OFA reviews Ontario's Conservation Authorities Act 0
The majority of Ontario's wetlands in southern Ontario are located on farms. So when the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry recently launched a review of the Conservation Authorities Act, the Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA) compiled a response outlining the important role agriculture and farmers have in environmental and ecological protection and preservation.
Ontario's Conservation Authorities Act is designed to ensure the conservation, restoration and responsible management of water, land and natural habitat through programs that balance the human, environmental and economic needs. The act also authorizes the formation of conservation authorities with roles and responsibilities that directly impact land that Ontario farmers own and farm.
OFA has identified a number of areas where the Conservation Authorities Act can be improved and will be submitting a formal response through the government's review and consultation process which closes October 19. The two most important areas that affect Ontario farmers are building a better relationship between farmers and regional conservation authorities, and addressing funding imbalances between conservation authorities.
Many OFA members have working relationships with their local conservation authorities, with varying levels of success and respect. In our review submission OFA is asking for more effective, consistent representation for agriculture and farmers on conservation authority boards. OFA wants a dedicated farmer representative on each board to reflect the fact that Ontario farmers own and manage most of the lands under the conservation authority jurisdiction. With 36 conservation authorities across Ontario, OFA members report a wide variance in the delivery of services and treatment of farmers. While many are respectful and work collaboratively with farmers, others have been hostile and dictatorial. OFA wants to see changes made to the act to ensure conservation authority staff treat farmers and property owners respectfully and work together to manage and improve our wetlands and natural habitats.
In Ontario, conservation authorities are funded primarily through municipal levies. This creates funding disparity across the province. OFA is asking the government to ensure all conservation authorities, regardless of population base or geographic area, are equally funded to deliver core programs and services.
Ontario farmland plays a huge role in the health of our environment and ecology through wildlife habitat, water cycling like purification and ground water recharge, biodiversity, soil erosion control and the general aesthetics of our beautiful province. OFA will be submitting our review of the Conservation Authorities Act to ensure farmers have a voice in this regulation that affects so much of our valuable farmland. It's never been more important that we establish a balance between agriculture and conservation resources to protect and preserve Ontario's environment.
Peter Lambrick is a board member for the Ontario Federation of Agriculture.
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The rules of the road change today and, with any luck, they may highlight Toronto’s need for improved pedestrian and cycling infrastructure.
The province has updated its fine schedule to include set fees and demerit points for some of the most egregious driving infractions.
If you are reading this in your car, for some baffling reason, you may want to pull over:
The set fine for distracted driving is now $490 and three demerit points. If you’re a novice driver, it’s an automatic 30-day suspension.
The advocacy group Cycle Toronto has called these changes a win, as they include steep penalties for “dooring” cyclists and the long sought-after one-metre rule.
The penalty for passing a cyclist without allowing a minimum distance of one metre is indeed a huge win for cyclist safety. The penalty is $110 and two demerit points, $180 if you’re in a community-safety zone. It’s also going to cause a lot of headaches, I predict, if properly enforced.
These headaches are necessary, however; think of them as growing pains. On many crowded Toronto streets, lacking as they often are in meaningful cycling infrastructure, a real crackdown on violators of the one-metre rule would be eye-opening.
Ideally, citizens and politicians alike will realize that many of our streets are dangerous for cyclists, by design. It is easy to imagine situations within the city where safely passing a cyclist with the proper one-metre space is extremely difficult.
Then we get to have a conversation about how we can redesign our streets so everyone can get where they’re going, safely, without these headaches.
Cyclists don’t get off so easily, either.
Cyclists don’t get off so easily, either.
The new penalty for riding without proper lights is $110, commuted down from a whopping proposed $500, due to advocacy from groups like Cycle Toronto.
These fines are well meaning enough. Coupled with reduced speed limits on residential streets in East York, there have certainly been major, recent strides in the level of enforcement for the sake of safety.
Still, let’s not take our eyes off the real prize.
The city is still considering adopting Vision Zero policies, already in place many
European and American cities, which hold that no number of traffic fatalities is acceptable.
Vision Zero also puts emphasis on designing roads in a way that reduces reckless driving and simple human error.
There will always be a few people who feel they’re above the law or truly believe they can get away with any number of careless infractions.
Fines are all well and good, but when street design necessitates safer driving, then we’ll really see some marked improvements in safety for drivers, cyclists and pedestrians alike.
Glyn Bowerman is a Toronto-based journalist and theatre artist. He is also a regular contributor to Spacing Magazine. Follow him on Twitter @Banquos_Banquet