Will you be there?

Who will be attending the Durham Regional Council meeting tomorrow (January 24, at 10:00 a.m.)? Will it be as wild as the September 13 Regional Council meeting when so many residents got up to speak against removal of lands in Durham Region (including 2 parcels within Clarington) from the Provincial Greenbelt? Where several were berated by Councillors for their opinions? Or will it be a slightly quieter meeting, but again with a large number of residents from across Durham Region speaking up as delegations to Planning Committee on January 9, where the Greenbelt issue took up the majority of a very long meeting?

Will you be there to witness the hypocrisy of some on Council who continue to try to convince us of how supportive they are of the Greenbelt, yet they want to attach a supplemental document to the Official Plan which spells out which lands they will try to remove from the Greenbelt at the earliest opportunity? And that opportunity won't even present itself for at least another 9 years. So why make future councils conform to the wishes of this present council, when so many things can change in that period of time. They will tell you it is their "vision" for the future. But their "vision" is truly short-sighted in the overall scheme of things.

Durham Region has the worst reputation in the GTA for being environmentally unfriendly. Will they try to change that perception with new "spin" on what they are doing, or will they truly try to become a friend to residents and the Province and discard this silly (and destructive) plan?

The public is watching closely. The media is watching too. Why wouldn't this Planning Committee (not STAFF - the Planning Committee is made up of politicians, not experts) listen to the advice of their staff (the experts) and the pleas of their residents, and requests from Municipal Councils such as Clarington and Ajax? They won't even let the municipalities do their own planning, which is a shame. Is this Planning Committee so all-knowledgeable, so infallible that they know better than the Provincial Government, planning experts, and municipal staff and councils? Do they not have an obligation to do what is in the best interest of the majority, rather than try to give the advantage to a few while causing damage to our environment as well as to their own reputations with the public? That reputation as a "retrograde, developer-friendly" bunch is reinforced more and more each day. They will try to put a new spin on it but nobody is buying.

Come out to the meeting at Durham Regional Headquarters, 605 Rossland Road East, Whitby, in Council Chambers on the main level to support Clarington's request that all Clarington lands be removed from the "Supplemental Attachment" that Planning Committee wants attached to the Official Plan. Come out to let Council know that you don't agree with Planning Committee. Come out to support the Greenbelt and Provincial Legislation. The meeting begins at 10:00 a.m. Come and enjoy the show. Or participate in it. Tell your own Regional Councillors and Mayor that you support the Greenbelt and they should support "Option #1".