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September
2001 Newsletter
Three
Years and Waiting
In
August of 1998, the Regional government released its Draft
Summary Report, Volume 2, outlining its expressway plans.
It also released a dozen consultant studies related to the
project. It asked for public comments and submissions on
these documents to be provided to the Region by mid-October
1998. A large number of submissions were handed in, many
of them substantial and extensive. The Region promised it
would respond in writing to each submission no later than
January 1999. It did not do so. To this day, no responses
have been provided.
Submissions
were made by the Coalition on the Niagara Escarpment, the
Federation of Ontario Naturalists, the Bay Area Restoration
Committee, Citizens for a Sustainable Community, the Hamilton
Naturalists' Club, Concerned Residents of Ward 5, the Hamilton
Region Conservation Authority, the Royal Botanical Gardens
and Friends of Red Hill.
Individual
submissions were made by a number of McMaster faculty and
other concerned citizens. Detailed comments were made about
impacts on human health, air quality, noise, fish, harbour
remediation, traffic, vegetation, wildlife, outdoor education
and many other issues. Hundreds of hours of research and
writing were carried out in the belief that the local government
was telling the truth in its promise that it would listen
and respond to concerns.
The
three years of silence that have followed have been extremely
insulting. They are strong evidence that local government
has nothing but contempt for anyone who dares to question
the wisdom of the expressway project.
In
December 1998, Friends held a large public meeting
on the air quality implications of the expressway. It was
addressed by Dr. David Pengelly, Dr. Brian McCarry and Tom
Muir. At about the same time, the Hamilton Spectator
published a feature on this issue and an editorial in which
it demanded the Regional government respond to the concerns
raised by these individuals. They were told answers would
be provided by January 1999. This has never taken place.
The newspaper seems to have forgotten its demand, but the
very serious questions about the health implications of
the expressway still remain.
The
expressway documents and the call for public submissions
were part of a formal process that was required as a condition
of the exemption from provincial environmental assessment
granted to the Regional government in 1997. The Region made
a big fuss about how it was "assessing" the expressway
and seeking public input, although the reality was that
the exemption meant all final decisions about the acceptability
of the project were put into the hands of the Region. Even
that truncated process has now obviously been abandoned,
apparently with the approval of the provincial government,
suggesting again that when it comes to building expressways
in Ontario, democracy is the first casualty.
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