September 4, 2003

TO: The Mayor and Members of Burlington City Council

FROM: Citizens Opposed to Paving the Escarpment (COPE)

RE: Report Number DI-17/03 – Mid Peninsula Corridor

Thank you for the opportunity to present our delegation.

First, I want to thank sincerely the Mayor and Members of Council and Staff of the City of Burlington for the work you have done, and for continuing to involve COPE so meaningfully in this issue. You are operating under artificial and ridiculous time lines and we regret that we are not as informed as we would like to be about the report you will consider tonight. We do appreciate your on-going communication with us and realize that the time lines are not of your choosing.

Many COPE members attended last night’s information session at Mainway Arena and we have read the materials you have provided carefully.

In a nutshell, we agree that some significant progress has apparently been made with MTO as described in the report and we are encouraged by this. But frankly, it is not enough. It is a good starting point, but COPE believes that much more clarity is needed, and further commitments are required. COPE urges Council to request that your staff return to the bargaining table with MTO and continue to negotiate until we get it right.

As an aside, isn’t it remarkable and sad that the City of Burlington and the Region of Halton have to negotiate with the provincial government to get them to implement the quite clear requirements of their own Environmental Assessment legislation.

COPE’s position is that a FULL Environmental Assessment, including an evaluation of "Needs" as well as several meaningful "Alternatives To" are required. It appears that the proposed agreement has gone several steps down the road to making the Environmental Assessment more comprehensive. This needs to be reinforced and expanded to be clear that Needs and Alternatives To are comprehensive.

COPE believes that Council should request that the government immediately and publicly withdraw its campaign promise in "The Road Ahead" to build the MPH. To do otherwise is to make it clear to us that this whole exercise is window-dressing and an attempt to keep us quiet for the period of the election. This government has a pretty good record of implementing its campaign promises and this needs to be clarified before proceeding any further.

COPE believes further that Council should request that the government insert in the agreement the statement in "The Road Ahead" which promises to protect our environmental treasure, the Niagara Escarpment. Further, this "protection" needs to be defined clearly and unequivocally. As COPE has stated frequently, protecting it doesn’t mean paving it. The inserted statement that cuts to the Niagara Escarpment will be a "last resort" is meaningless. We believe that Council should insist that a statement like "new cuts in the Niagara Escarpment will not be considered" be inserted in the agreement, and should be part of the broad definition required for "protection" of the Niagara Escarpment.

COPE believes that the terms of reference – the mandate – for the Advisory Committee need to be clearly established before the process can proceed. COPE wants to be actively and positively involved, but will not do so unless the mandate is clear, up front and indicative that the consultation process will be robust and meaningful – nothing like the process used to date by MTO, I might add.

Finally, COPE encourages Council to inform MTO that it needs adequate time to consult with its stakeholders before suggesting further changes and additions to the agreement. We understand that MTO has not honoured its commitments regarding sending critical information to the City of Burlington. Council shouldn’t be pressured into complying with their ridiculous time lines. We believe that we should continue to work toward getting a complete agreement, but in taking sufficient time to do it right and to consult meaningfully. If this is what MTO considers meaningful consultation and sufficient time, we need to point out to them that it is neither.

To conclude, COPE thanks you for your approach to consultation with your community – you have much to offer the province in advising them how to do it well. Thanks for the progress you have made on our behalf to date. We encourage you to stay the course and to insist on doing the job right.

If you have questions, I’ll be pleased to respond.

 

Many thanks,

Bob Williams

Co-Chair, COPE

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