Letter to the Editor of Simcoe.com
The following Letter to the Editor of Simcoe.com was written in response to an article in the Meaford Express by its editor, Chris Fell. He opposes the Niagara Escarpment Commission’s plan to add 10,793 hectares in Grey County to Escarpment Plan Area. Fell wrote that Grey County municipalities stand to lose close to $700,000 in tax revenue if the proposed expansion is implemented.
Once upon a time, Canada was jokingly called “a nation of Scottish bankers.” But today’s rapidly changing climate calls for visionaries, not bean-counters. Municipalities have the power to look past the next election and protect the natural capital that sustains us. The proposed Niagara Escarpment expansion makes sense.
Reading about the shock and awe experienced by local officials over lost tax revenue seems like a retrograde response from “Scottish bankers” But aren’t we also stewards of the magnificent UNESCO treasure known worldwide as The Niagara Escarpment?
Now the NEC is offering a plan to invest bigly in our natural capital, by expanding the landscape that draws all those tourist dollars our way. But more than that, climate change is real.
Remember the tornado a couple weeks ago, and state-of- emergency flooding at the Cape?
Expanding and protecting our wild spaces ameliorates weather damage and promotes species survival. This land was not only made for you and me. Please let’s not allow the almighty dollar to trump common sense. And yes indeed, as your editorial so wisely recommends (INSERT HYPERLINK https://www.simcoe.com/opinion-story/6915466-time-to-scrap-the-omb/), let’s do away with the OMB, those henchmen for profiteers and underminers of good municipal decisions.
Rosemary Gosselin, Thornbury