KITCHENER MAYOR BLASTS PLANNING ACT

Well, once again I may have to refocus my understanding and opinions of certain municipal politicians. I had always felt that Kitchener Mayor Carl Zehr was a member of the good old boys network, very happy with the status quo and many of it's negative effects on the rest of us. Perhaps not according to today's K-W Record article titled "Planning Act loophole gives developers upper hand, Zehr says". I'm not surprised that he knows that the Planning Act is problematic, I'm surprised that he has a problem with that fact.

New Councillor Yvonne Fernandes is rightly upset that "...the question of whether development should even be allowed in the area was never debated and discussed in public meetings". The area in question is Doon South and it consists of woodlots, marshes, streams, ponds and recharge areas for aquifers that supply drinking water. This vital debate is completely behind closed doors courtesy of the Planning Act and the Ontario Municipal Board. Transparency and acountability are nil and this is exactly why we have been and continue to lose wildlife habitat, aquifer recharge areas and overall environmental sustainability continues to be comprimised.

This is not a loophole as Mayor Zehr suggests. This is intentional and it is the reward developers receive for ongoing political donations. Inherently flawed legislation is how criminals who despoil all our environments avoid prosecution and jail. This is why we have lost democracy. The financial control of our politicians and political processes long ago relegated politicains to the role of hockey players. They must stickhandle between public outrage and hence electoral losses and keeping their supporters happy and on board. The fact that their supporters are a tiny minority in numbers is made up for by their political and financial influence. This is what democracy has become and it is reprehensible.