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CORRESPONDENCE
ORDER OF THE DAY
Glen Eagle and the Faith in Action Committee invited
Sharon Powell (Land Over Landings) and Bernadette Zubrinsky (Sierra
Club of Canada) to address the Court on some of the issues and
concerns surrounding the proposed site of the Pickering Airport.
Motion from The Faith in Action
Committee - The Pickering Airport
Whereas the Greater
Toronto Airport Authority has presented a Business Plan which fails
to include available capacity at an existing international airport
in Waterloo, Ontario and other existing facilities in Oshawa,
Markham, Buttonville and Hamilton and which also includes usage
projections based on data from 1996 which have proven to be grossly
inflated and which also neglects to examine changes in technology
which would make existing facilities capable of much greater
capacities;
And whereas the proposed site for a new airport is situated on prime
farmland in North Pickering immediately adjacent to the Oak Ridges
Moraine and the Duffins Rouge Agricultural Preserve, both identified
as critical green spaces and legally protected as such by the
provincial government and is also home to the last coldwater stream
on the north shore of Lake Ontario;
And whereas this prime farmland is the highest and best class of
agricultural lands, A1, and is the last of this class between
Toronto and the east coast of Canada.
And whereas Public Works has grossly mismanaged the structures on
the property by failing to maintain them in habitable condition by
performing regular maintenance and have used public funds to perform
work on unoccupied structures which then remain vacant;
And whereas the tenants have been told to "make other arrangements"
or have been forcibly evicted from their homes through no fault of
their own because the structures have become, after years of neglect
by Public Works, unsafe or too expensive to bring up to minimum
standard;
And whereas Public Works has failed to re-tenant the inhabitable
structures thereby leaving them vulnerable to theft and vandalism;
And whereas the barns needed by the farmer tenants on the property
have not been repaired and have become unusable, the result of which
is unsustainable farming practices, such as cash cropping, by the
farmers;
An whereas Public Works is unwilling to enter into any lease terms
exceeding 1 year thereby preventing any farming enterprise from
investing in sustainable farming practices;
An whereas the lease agreements presented by Public Works explicitly
prevents any non-commercial tenant from performing even the simplest
repair on their own, violation of which is basis for eviction;
And whereas Public Works is unwilling to enter into any other
arrangement other than a month to month rental situation with the
residential tenants;
M06-07/011 Moved by Glen Eagle and seconded by David Mundy
that Oshawa Presbytery petition the Government of Canada to halt the
current plans to development of an airport of any kind on the lands
in Pickering and to enter into long term leases with the tenant
farmers; and this motion be forwarded to all appropriate government
Ministries including the Ministry of Transport, Infrastructure and
Communities; the Ministry of Public Works and Government Services;
the Ministry of Agriculture and Agri-Food; the Ministry of Fisheries
and Oceans; the Ministry of the Environment; the Ministry of
Canadian Heritage and Status of Women; the Ministry of Health; the
Ministry of Finance; the Auditor General; as well as the General
Council Offices of the United Church. CARRIED
September 19,
2006
OSHAWA PRESBYTERY
Simcoe Street United Church in Oshawa
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