Elections
Do you support maintaining or expanding the protection of farmland and rural natural land from urban boundary expansions?
Responses to the question: "Do you support maintaining or expanding the protection of farmland and rural natural land from urban boundary expansions?"
In This Page:
4 Candidate Responses (top)
| Hamilton Centre | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Brief Response | Full Response |
| Bob Mann | Yes | |
| Donna Tiqui-Shebib | Yes | Absolutely. This is something we are very clear about in our platform. Hamiltonians are blessed to be surrounded by so much green space – from local farms, to the Bruce Trail. This is something I don’t take for granted. The Ontario Liberal government has introduced award-winning land-use planning legislation that encourages smart growth and protects green spaces for future generations.
If re-elected we plan to: * Protect more land by expanding the Greenbelt over the next six years; * Create a Farms Forever Program to help landowners protect agricultural land close to major urban centres; and * Explore opportunities to develop agriculture in the north, including making Crown land available to farmers who commit to bringing the land into agricultural production. |
| John Vail | Maybe | Thanks for the questions but in my opinion they are better directed to municipal candidates as the questions relate directly to municipal issues and not to provincial issues which are jobs, the provincial economy, the provincial deficit, provincial debt reduction, and lower provincial taxes |
| Peter Ormond | Yes | If we don't have food to eat, the politeness disappears. Riots result. Farmland that produces food should be our top priority. We have urban farming emerging as an exciting option that our grandparent's took for granted. Plus I'd like to see medians and green spaces planted with perennial food-producing plants and pollinators rather than manicured grass or flowerbeds that are replanted every two weeks and watered every day.
Right now, Hamilton's airport expansion is a case study on what not what to do. At the OMB hearing, concerned citizens proved that the data used by the City of Hamilton was outdated. However, the Ontario Municipal Board ruled that this data was irrelevant. Seriously! The brownfields on Hamilton's abandoned industrial sites are already serviced as well. Therefore, upwards of a billion dollars could be spent on airport lands expansion and servicing. Basically, we're paying to pave over prime farmland. This is silently ignored by the mainstream media. Meanwhile, citizens flock around the table to debate the allocation of riding-specific parliamentary budgeting tasks, with net budgets in the order of 0.1% of the resources allocated to the airport. On a positive note, the process does build community. The Greens will dismantle the OMB. We'll also start speaking out about some of the local issues that our local MP's and MPP's ignore over and over again. Hamilton's Airport is a classic example of greed of a few local 'heroes' trumping the needs of the community. We can continue as is, or start a new direction. If we want different results, then it's time to start voting for them. Vote for the new path that Green offers. |
Response Summary (top)
| Brief Response | Count | % of Total |
|---|---|---|
| Yes | 3 | 75.0% |
| No | 0 | 0.0% |
| Maybe | 1 | 25.0% |
2 Candidates Have Not Responded (top)
| Hamilton Centre | ||
|---|---|---|
| Andrea Horwath | ||
| Peter Melanson | ||
