[the following letter was hand delivered by a group from the ShowStoppers, including a flying squirrel, a tree, and a cow, Thursday, July 31, 2003.]
Lloyd Ferguson, General Manager
Dufferin Construction Company
690 Dorval Drive, Suite 200
Oakville, ON L6K 3W7 Canada
Telephone: (416) 798-4912
Fax: (905) 842-7974
E-mail: lferguson@stlawrencecement.com
Thursday, July 31, 2003
Dear Mr. Ferguson,
We are writing to you and your staff to explain who we are, and why we will be non-violently opposing the road construction you have been contracted to undertake in Hamilton’s Red Hill Valley.
We are a diverse group of several hundred people coming from all walks of life, but with one thing cementing our common purpose: we don't want the Red Hill Valley to be turned into an expressway.
You may have heard that we are planning to use non-violent civil disobedience to achieve our goals. This is true. Having been trained in techniques that make our resistance powerful, but in no way a threat to your physical safety, we will be in the Valley come August to halt construction of this Expressway
Perhaps some of you agree with our position. Naturally, most people agree that the value of an urban forest like Red Hill has huge benefits for the people of Hamilton in general, and residents of the east end in particular.
Your parent company, St. Lawrence Cement, says that it is "committed to sustainable development, responsible stewardship of the natural environment and the protection of human health."
St. Lawrence Cement further claims to "recognize that natural resources are the wealth of future generations. If we deplete this shared wealth, it will negatively affect our children's future."
We applaud such principles and ask that Dufferin Construction, in order to abide by the corporate commitments laid out by its parent company, withdraw from its contract with the City of Hamilton to construct the Red Hill Creek Expressway.
There are several significant health, environmental, economic, and legal issues we would like to discuss with you concerning the participation of Dufferin Construction and its parent company, St. Lawrence Cement, in the Red Hill Valley Project.
Consultant reports relating to Red Hill Valley indicate that building the expressway, and in the process cutting down 41,000 trees, will mean an increase in asthma rates for children living near the road. It will mean induced traffic, more exhaust, more noise, more smog, and more human deaths related to poor air quality (the Ontario Medical Association estimates that 2,030 Ontario residents will die because of smog in 2003) and traffic fatalities (845 people died on Ontario highways in 2001, the safest year on record).
A study examining potential air quality hazards for the Red Hill Valley Expressway concludes that children and the elderly will experience health impairments such as respiratory and cardiac illness once the road is in use. Consultants hired by the City have stated that "if the predicted levels of PM10 based on the RWDI model are accurate, [children and the elderly] should be encouraged to limit their exposures, and not frequent the Red Hill Valley once the expressway has been completed."
Of 14 streams that once flowed over the Niagara Escarpment and down to the harbour, the Red Hill Creek is the only one remaining. The others are culverted, buried under homes, businesses, and roads. Red Hill Creek is the last free-flowing creek in Hamilton. That makes it unique and worth preserving for our children’s future.
Anyone visiting Hamilton's east end will realize, too, that this area already suffers disproportionately from environmental hazards. It is heavily industrialized, carrying a huge toxic burden from steel mills and other industry, toxic leaking landfills and, until very recently, incinerators. And the majority of locally generated smog is a result of high traffic volume on the nearby QEW. It's a pretty depressing picture in many ways.
In addition to harming human health, roads are the leading cause of habitat destruction in Southern Ontario and have a significant negative impact on wildlife. It is no less important to note that the Red Hill Valley is home to a threatened population of Southern Flying Squirrels (Glaucomys volans), considered to be a "Species of Special Concern" by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) because they are particularly sensitive to human activities. They will be put at grave risk of extirpation if this road is constructed.
To lose even a small part of our precious urban wilderness is troubling, but to pave over major portions of the Red Hill Valley with yet another unnecessary road is, for us and the environment, too much to bear.
Even those people who don't mind losing the green space will certainly mind losing the green from their wallets.
This is a very expensive project ($220,000,000.00), as you are well positioned to know. The many thousands of citizens of Hamilton who oppose the construction of the Red Hill Creek Expressway will ultimately be expected to pay for it through their steadily rising taxes. As a number of City Councillors, such as Russ Powers and Andrea Horwath, have pointed out, the Red Hill Valley Project brings the city lurching ever closer toward bankruptcy. Hamilton will pay $53 million this year to service its debt. Total debt is currently just over $500 per person. Total debt by the end of this year will be over $1000 per person. By 2007 it will be over $1350 per person. Citizens of Hamilton will not tolerate this needless waste of their taxpayer dollars.
St. Lawrence Cement’s corporate policy, adopted by their Board of Directors in 1992, "clearly spells out our commitment to meeting - and exceeding - all applicable regulations, while providing the general framework for our environmental stewardship."
Given the commitment of your parent company to meeting and exceeding all applicable regulations, you should be warned that the City of Hamilton is still missing key permits to carry out work in the Red Hill Valley, including permits from the Niagara Escarpment Commission.
We feel it is important to bring to your attention that by beginning construction in the Red Hill Valley without proper permits, Dufferin Construction Company and its parent company, St. Lawrence Cement, will be acting in clear contravention of the law.
In this case, anyone attempting to dissuade you or your workers from carrying out this illegal work in the valley will be attempting to uphold the law. It may not look that way if police choose to arrest demonstrators and drag them off to jails--but the public will know, despite appearances, that these citizens, your neighbours, are acting on solid legal, environmental, health and economic principles.
While road construction and maintenance will continue to play an important role in the way we move ourselves and our goods, the future will most certainly see fundamental changes in the way we plan transportation.
Around the world, cities are cancelling plans to build new expressways and tearing up their old expressways. Around the world and here in Canada, cutting-edge cities are putting increasing emphasis on efficient, frequent and affordable public transit, and providing meaningful support for cycling and pedestrian infrastructure. Our cities are now moving away from car-centric systems towards safer, cleaner, more rational and more cost-effective alternatives.
Perhaps one day in the not too distant future Dufferin Construction will be bidding on contracts to de-pave superfluous roads and restore lost habitat, constructing well-connected bike-paths across the city (such as your magnificent pedestrian/cyclist bridge across the 403) and across the country, and looking at innovative ways towards building a better country and a more competitive business based on sustainable environmental and economic principles.
With future generations in mind, together we can make inroads towards ensuring a breathable future.
We are concerned with how Dufferin Construction, and its parent company St. Lawrence Cement, negotiates the fact that "society continues to demand the construction of safe and economical roads and buildings, which consume non-renewable natural resources." Merely answering the demand and pouring the concrete is not the best way to go about taking our environment seriously.
Entering into controversial contracts like the Red Hill Valley Project is neither the ecologically nor the economically sound thing to do. Not only does this Project threaten our natural heritage in the Valley, but it also threatens the image and public relations of both your company, Dufferin Construction, its parent company, St. Lawrence Cement, and its parent company, Holcim Ltd.
We hope to save the Red Hill Valley and prevent the construction of this Expressway. We sincerely hope that you understand our position and will consider joining us in opposing this road.
Such a bold action by Canada’s biggest concrete paving company would not only save Dufferin Construction from the negative publicity associated with large-scale protests against your company and your parent companies, but it would also demonstrate to the Canadian public that you are serious about “sustainable development, responsible stewardship of the natural environment and the protection of human health.”
It is with some urgency, Mr. Ferguson, that we request a meeting with you and the Dufferin Construction management team as well as with union leaders representing the Project’s workers to discuss the above issues prior to the scheduled start of construction - that date being Tuesday, August 5, 2003.
Thanking you in advance for your prompt reply.
Best regards,
The "Showstoppers Union"
c/o OPIRG-McMaster
PO Box 19, 1280 Main Street West
Hamilton ON L8S 1C0
Tel: 905.525-9140 ext.26026
cc: Markus Akermann, Chief Executive Officer, Holcim Ltd.
Philippe Arto, President and CEO, St. Lawrence Cement Inc.
Fred Stremble, Controller, Dufferin Construction Company
Jake Sudac, District Manager, Western Region, Dufferin Construction Company
Elizabeth Oak, Human Resources Manager, Dufferin Construction Company
Jim Lafontaine, Health, Safety & Environmental Manager, Dufferin Construction Company
Ron Fraser, Chief Estimator, Dufferin Construction Company
Teamsters Local 879
Joe Beatty, Hamilton and Brantford Building Trades
Hamilton City Council
Media