[1:59] Mhm.

[3:01] » What do we do as an organization on a regular basis? We observe and report to

[3:05] members of on the work of our municipal councils.

[3:09] And as with today's meeting, we often share important work with these

[3:12] councils. We hold regular town hall meetings on key community items and for

[3:16] many years have presented informational meetings open to the public on issues

[3:20] that are critical to our communities, often on environmental concerns. And in

[3:26] 2026, we will continue our tradition of working with council candidates in

[3:30] holding all candidate meetings in the run-up to October's municipal

[3:35] council election. We have also participated in hearings on

[3:39] various threats to the community. This past year, we've been very active in

[3:44] reviewing and responding to a major aggregate proposal in Melancthon, close

[3:49] to the Mulmur town line, a project which has raised concerns across the county on

[3:54] water usage, flow of our main rivers, and potential serious air contamination

[3:58] arising from explosives usage. MC Squared operates with a board and a

[4:04] very dedicated group of volunteers, many of whom are here today.

[4:08] Currently, we have a membership of 90 households reflecting a total membership

[4:12] of approximately 300 citizens. We are always interested in attracting

[4:17] new members to support the important work that we are doing. You'll notice

[4:21] that we have a table in the back of the room with more information on MC

[4:24] Squared. We invite everyone here to join us as members.

[4:28] We are currently in the process of updating our website, a project that

[4:32] will be completed in June and will provide a more detailed information

[4:36] about our current projects and opportunities for volunteer engagement.

[4:42] All right, let's get started with uh today's agenda.

[4:45] Um perhaps first of all, I'll introduce uh the council members that are here

[4:48] today. We have counselor Capes. We have uh Deputy Mayor Nix. We have

[4:55] Mayor Creelman. We have counselor Mactalo and counselor

[4:58] Davey. Thank you all for being here. >> [applause]

[5:04] » Our keynote speaker today is Mr. Andrew McCammon. He is executive director of

[5:09] the Ontario Headwaters Institute. Following a career that included working

[5:14] as a consultant to or employee of agencies on four levels of government in

[5:18] Ontario, federal, provincial, municipal, and a conservation authority,

[5:23] Andrew became the executive director of the Ontario Headwaters Institute in

[5:27] 2008. Since joining, Andrew has guided the

[5:31] institute through a change of focus from headwaters to full watershed management

[5:36] and more recently to promoting watershed security. He will share with us today

[5:41] why that happened and provide observations about how it relates to

[5:44] safe and sustainable water for Mono's future. Andrew? Thanks.

[5:55] That was my error. Yes. Council Capes we

[6:09] Sat on? Ooh, there you go. Good morning, everybody.

[6:15] » [snorts] >> We would like to begin by respectfully

[6:17] acknowledging that the town of Mono resides within the traditional territory

[6:22] and ancestral lands of the Tionontati, Attawandaron, Haudenosaunee, and

[6:28] Anishinaabe peoples. We also acknowledge that the town of

[6:32] Mono resides within the treaty lands named under Treaty 18, the Nottawasaga

[6:37] purchase of 1818. These traditional territories upon which

[6:42] we live and learn are steeped in rich indigenous history and traditions. It is

[6:48] with this statement that we declare to honor and respect the past and present

[6:52] connection of indigenous peoples with this land, its waterways, and resources.

[7:05] And now, I give you Andrew. >> [applause]

[7:10] » Thank you.

[7:15] I'm just going to

[7:17] try to make that a lectern.

[7:21] Try to not have my backs to anybody. I apologize.

[7:25] Um and

[7:27] the audience, thank you for coming. Um this is too much information, but there

[7:33] won't be too much information. Uh I was at a conference 2 weeks ago and I had to

[7:38] look at a screen to the side and I came home with a crick in my neck.

[7:44] And

[7:47] They don't want to hear this. And the next day I got food poisoning.

[7:52] Now, I will just tell you this. The human body wasn't designed

[7:59] to have a crick in the neck while you're retching, okay?

[8:08] » [laughter]

[8:11] » So, thank you so much for the introduction,

[8:15] the land acknowledgement, and it's a pleasure to be here today. I want to

[8:19] thank Stephen in particular. Um he saw a version of some of this uh a

[8:25] couple of weeks, well, 4 weeks ago now. And um stop that. Stop it. Um

[8:32] and the projector didn't work. So, it was kind of a

[8:37] a tap dance between what I wanted to say and Oh, this side was going to tell you.

[8:42] Um I try not to read my slides. Um this is a 1-year course, university course in

[8:49] watershed management in 20 minutes. So, I try I'm going to try to do a

[8:55] narrative that will open up some issues for you, underscore other issues you're

[9:00] probably familiar with. Um

[9:03] but uh

[9:05] the slides, and there's a copy of the complete PowerPoint on the table. And if

[9:10] you want me to email you a digital version, tell me your email address and

[9:14] I'll send it to you. A lot of the bullets in these slides I could speak to

[9:18] you for an hour. We're not going to do that, and there won't be a test. Um so,

[9:24] uh uh uh hopefully I can get this covered in a in a entertaining fashion

[9:29] in in 20 minutes. Okay. So, I've always been a water baby.

[9:35] I don't know if anybody else has water babies, but they're the kids that want

[9:38] to stay in the bathtub all the time and when you take them to swimming class at

[9:41] the Y, they want to do the length of the pool underwater.

[9:45] They don't want to learn how to crawl. And I've always been interested in

[9:48] water. I love fog. I love rain. I love back country canoe tripping and swimming

[9:54] six times a day. I've always been interested in water. And then I got

[9:59] somewhat interested in the science, which this covers.

[10:03] Uh but I ended up in the policy wrong side. Um and and so people just don't

[10:09] understand water. Most people until you get a crisis that's like the several

[10:14] that your community is facing with uh development and arsenic and quality and

[10:18] quantity, um you you

[10:21] suddenly people get interested in water, but we take it for granted. A lot of

[10:25] people don't know where water comes from.

[10:29] Water is life and it's the defining feature of our planet. Yes, the pictures

[10:33] from the moon showed clouds, but by and large it was a blue bobble with the

[10:38] oceans. Um but where did it come from? Well, this planet was a dead rock.

[10:45] And it was as it condensed, there were volcanoes for millions of years,

[10:50] probably hundreds of millions of years. Those volcanoes ejected the water

[10:55] particles in the rock into the atmosphere. What was an atmosphere? It

[10:59] was toxic, poisonous, wouldn't call it an atmosphere, but it was too hot to

[11:03] rain. So,

[11:06] all the water that we have now in the oceans was suspended. And finally, the

[11:11] planet cooled down enough for it to rain, and the rain covered the planet.

[11:16] That was before the continents emerged. So, then some of the land that was now

[11:20] submerged by that water arose. And in those um areas that got wet a

[11:27] couple of times a day, those are where we feel life began.

[11:32] And cyanobacteria invented photosynthesis.

[11:37] And the photosynthesis, the most of those those plants were for

[11:40] the most part in the water. There's no plants on land. And those plants

[11:46] put all the oxygen into the atmosphere. So water is not just key for life now

[11:54] for us, but water in fact is where life began and created our atmosphere. So we

[11:59] need to respect it a lot more than we are right now.

[12:05] Currently we have a synergistic kind of relationship. Water circulates the

[12:10] planet in what's called the hydrological cycle. I'm sure you're familiar with it.

[12:15] Um and and it's amazing, but I I just love teachers and talking to kids.

[12:20] Uh I sometimes talk about uh the hydrological cycle, which is

[12:24] accumulation, water flowing across the land,

[12:28] um transpiration, the sunlight evaporating it and the trees breathing

[12:32] it out. Uh that water vapor rises, condensation,

[12:37] and then precipitation. And I was doing this for some class and some kid went,

[12:42] "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Accumulation, transpiration, condensation, and

[12:46] precipitation." Like they had all these signs for it. They knew exactly what was

[12:50] going on. And and that's what we're currently jeopardizing with the

[12:54] greenhouse gases we're putting up into the air. We're affecting the

[12:57] hydrological cycle, the intensity and duration of storms, uh longer droughts,

[13:03] uh longer heat waves, longer intense rain

[13:07] as Ontario just found out and we've got all this flooding all over the place

[13:10] such as in uh Minden Mills right now and other places. Um

[13:15] so stop it.

[13:20] So our hydrological cycle, to me it's somewhat similar to the formation of the

[13:24] planet and the formation of water. It's still water's still going everywhere.

[13:29] Once it rains, it flows across the land. It creates our headwater areas, our

[13:35] surface water streams. It percolates into the ground and and can be

[13:39] groundwater and or aquifers or aquitards, which a lot of is very

[13:43] important here with your arsenic and other problems.

[13:47] We started as the Headwaters Institute. Headwaters are very simply first,

[13:51] second, and third order streams. A first order stream is one with no tributaries.

[13:56] » [snorts] >> Two first come together, they form a

[13:58] second. Two seconds 100 ones could come in, it's

[14:02] not going to change. Two twos come together, it's a third.

[14:06] So, these things grow exponentially. The biggest watershed in the world is

[14:11] the Amazon. It's a 12th order stream.

[14:16] It's not 100, it's not 47, it's 12. And it has the only two 11th order streams

[14:21] in the world. The McKenzie is a 10th order stream. So, as they get bigger,

[14:26] it's a it's it's geometric progression. Um

[14:30] and it infiltrates into the ground and it exfiltrates out of the ground. Our

[14:35] cold water fisheries, such as the Credit, where you have great trout

[14:38] fishing, it's a cold water stream because there's so much percolation of

[14:42] groundwater that goes into the karst dolomite of the Niagara Escarpment. And

[14:48] when it comes out, it's chilled to ground temperature at 58°. That's why

[14:53] there's cold water fisheries. Um and of course also, because it infiltrates,

[14:58] that's how we get our arsenic and other chemicals, either naturally from the

[15:03] soil or from when people get in and start disturbing that soil.

[15:08] There's no clock.

[15:12] Um so,

[15:16] what I'm going to do today, I wanted to give you that as just some common

[15:20] background about how much we love and respect water.

[15:23] Um this is kind of I said mentioned earlier, this is kind of a very

[15:26] condensed expression of the whole nine yards of watershed management

[15:31] um and our desire to shift to watershed security, which I'll get into.

[15:35] Um so we're I'm going to provide a framework

[15:38] of what watershed management is right now. There's lots of bullets on the

[15:42] pages, that's why I handed them out. There are things you can research, you

[15:46] can ask me, email me if you have any questions on those elements. Then we're

[15:50] going to get into recent and future challenges. So just imagine a picture of

[15:55] Doug Ford up there.

[15:59] And then uh we'll talk about what Mono can do.

[16:11] So as per some of the things we've handed out in the introduction and I

[16:15] don't want to repeat it over and over again, but we are a registered charity

[16:19] that promotes watershed security. Um and and that includes water security.

[16:27] There's a lot of consternation right now because there's a bill

[16:32] I think it's 100 uh which is introducing the prospect of

[16:36] municipally owned water um corporations.

[16:42] And 10 days ago that was in included the prospect of of

[16:47] uh municipal private partnerships where

[16:51] they could sell shares to water companies. And that's been taken out of

[16:55] the draft legislation. Only municipalities will be allowed to own

[16:59] the shares. Um so they've they've kind of putting a little lid on water

[17:04] security, which is your municipal water supply, but we're still uh but watershed

[17:08] security includes water security because it's the water flowing across the

[17:13] landscape and going into our aquifers that feeds the water security issues.

[17:18] And we believe, and this is our um struggle

[17:24] uh with all of our environmental organizations that we work

[17:28] with so strongly in three land use planning coalitions.

[17:31] Um they are so angry at Doug Ford and the developers and the appearance of

[17:36] corruption from the Greenbelt scandal um that they are just absolutely frothing

[17:42] at the mouth. We've been telling them for 5 years, it's all about water.

[17:48] If you use water as the key metric for land use planning,

[17:54] the land use planning issues are going to go away.

[17:58] So, we're still a voice in the wilderness. We haven't been able to

[18:01] break through. I think we're starting to finally see that. The the crisis in

[18:05] Waterloo where there is a moratorium on development permits,

[18:09] um there's emerging crises in other communities, hello Mono.

[18:13] Um there's farmers that are having incredible difficulty trusting the water

[18:18] that's uh that they have uh to irrigate their crops. Some of that is quantity,

[18:23] some of that is salt from on the roads. Um so, we we have to do a better job

[18:28] both with our land use planning. If we don't cut down all the trees, if we

[18:33] don't drain all the wetlands, if we don't shove concrete pavement everywhere

[18:39] to adjust to to reduce the flow of storm water, we wouldn't have so many water

[18:45] problems. And so, currently in all of our planning mechanisms, water is taken

[18:50] for granted, it's kicked down the policy uh tree to the implementation phase.

[18:56] It's not planned from the beginning. So, we get into these problems. So, that's

[19:00] that's who we are. Um Ontario, I don't know if you are

[19:05] familiar with this. Um I speak to a lot of

[19:08] uh crowds that are intense policy wonks like myself. So, we know all about the

[19:13] Conservation Authorities Act 1946 and the beginnings of the

[19:18] Ontario led the world. No organization in the world had conservation

[19:23] authorities. Ministries of the environment were formed until the 1970s.

[19:29] Ontario was one of the first in 1970 and that was because of the Rome conference

[19:33] on sustainable development. All the governments in across the world, Canada,

[19:38] Ontario, Canada, the US, Europe, they started to create ministries of the

[19:42] environment. Ontario was 14 years ahead of that, 1946,

[19:48] creating conservation authorities. And that influenced a whole shaft raft of

[19:54] elements of the planning regime. These are those bullets that we're not going

[19:57] to talk to. The Niagara Escarpment Plan was the first water planning commission

[20:02] in the world. We have a really good planning act and a

[20:06] provincial policy statement which guides development.

[20:10] The Environmental Bill of Rights, another almost world leading. But water

[20:14] was very much the focus of the Lake Simcoe

[20:18] Protection Act, the Oak Ridges Moraine, the Greenbelt, the Place to Grow, the

[20:22] danger everything. It was it was inculcated throughout all these acts

[20:27] because we had done such a poor job with water in the 30s and 40s, cutting down

[20:32] trees and creating erosion and flooding conditions.

[20:36] Hurricane Hazel would not have been so bad had we not cut down all the trees on

[20:40] the Oak Ridges Moraine. So, all of these things are connected.

[20:46] However, since 1946,

[20:49] with all of these things, the watershed management has become just

[20:56] very complex. There are all these interacting

[21:01] agencies. There are all these interacting bits of legislation. There

[21:05] are all these committees of government people who got together and decide who's

[21:09] going to do what. Um and so it really is an Excedrin

[21:13] headache. I think everybody in this room remembers the old Excedrin headache

[21:16] commercials on TV. It's not just a regular headache, it's an Excedrin

[21:20] headache. Um

[21:21] and so we have unequal policies, in ad it very very different resources. Some

[21:28] municipalities support and contract their conservation authorities to do

[21:33] really good work to help them with their official plans. Which is now outlawed.

[21:38] Thank you, Mr. Ford. As he outlawed green development standards.

[21:42] Um so there's there's all these things that

[21:46] have become very very complex. Some CAs ensure that mis- some municipalities

[21:52] ensure their municipal- their CAs get good levies and so they have resources,

[21:57] but some people's water is protected better than other people's water. And

[22:01] and we don't think that's right. Water is fundamental right. It's a global

[22:04] commons and we need to respect and protect water more uniformly across the

[22:10] landscape. So um

[22:14] blasting right along. And I still don't have a time. Oh, there's a clock. When

[22:19] did I start? At Did I start at 9:40?

[22:25] Nailed it. Okay, perfect. God, I'm good. Thank you very much.

[22:29] Um so I want to talk a little bit about what the current problems are.

[22:34] For the most part, the system has become fragmented.

[22:38] Because we have too many agencies, too not enough resources, and and things are

[22:44] different in different geographic areas. So one outcome

[22:52] You won't be able to see this and if I printed it on an 8 and 1/2 by 11, you

[22:56] wouldn't be able to see it at all. But we have this amazing map. Sorry that

[23:00] it's so hard to see. This depicts over 40

[23:06] water management organizations just in South Central Ontario.

[23:11] 36 of them are conservation authorities. There's others like the Severn Sound

[23:16] Environmental Association. There are areas covered by the Ministry

[23:21] of Ministry Natural Resources where there's no conservation authority.

[23:26] There's the Lake Simcoe Protection Act and the Oak Ridges Moraine Greenbelt

[23:30] Act. And some of the CAs and part of the Lake Simcoe

[23:35] uh area are within the Greenbelt. So, right away you've got three overlapping

[23:40] geographic areas with different policies and priorities. So, we've been trying to

[23:45] tell the Ministry for for 5 years that this is needs is fragmented and

[23:52] needs to be standardized. So, we're not opposed to the harmonization of policies

[23:57] for conservation authorities as proposed under this

[24:01] uh the the the draft act to consolidate them and impose a provincial

[24:07] conservation agency to tell them what to do. We're not opposed to a coordinating

[24:11] agency. In fact, 7 years ago we proposed the creation of regional water boards.

[24:17] So, we're not opposed to the concept, but what this government is doing is

[24:22] it's trimming rather than consolidating to the highest

[24:26] standard. It's reducing the cost. The government province hasn't paid a

[24:31] provincial fee to conservation authorities for 15 years. They're now

[24:36] talking about $3 million to 36 CAs to help them consolidate.

[24:41] Thanks very much. Um so, we're not get this this is going to be worse. Um but,

[24:47] that's the situation. That's why we're fragmented.

[24:50] Um the the next one is that with so many

[24:54] agencies involved and I mentioned that people sit around a table. If you want

[24:59] to bring an issue to the attention of CVC for example, and I'll give you the

[25:03] example of the Aaron sewage treatment plant, and the concern there is that the

[25:07] effluent discharge is going to be above the temperature in which brook trout can

[25:11] live.

[25:14] When this was brought to their attention in a dramatic

[25:18] manner, not by me, um

[25:21] in a serious manner to say, you know, what is

[25:25] Suddenly, the agencies started talking to each other. They didn't know Well,

[25:28] I'll talk to the Ministry of Natural Resources. I'll give MECP a call. We're

[25:32] having a meeting next week. Somebody should be in charge of some

[25:37] simple things, which I'll get to later. But with this

[25:41] fragmentation, we get agencies saying, well, I'm not

[25:44] sure, let me get back to you. I run a business. I don't run my

[25:49] business that way. And the other one is, and I said I

[25:53] wasn't going to read very much, but one of the outcomes of what we have right

[25:58] now from this

[26:01] is that the conservation authorities do watershed report cards. We have 886

[26:06] watersheds under the jurisdiction of the 36

[26:10] conservation authorities. We forest conditions are fair,

[26:16] poor, or very poor in 64%

[26:21] of those.

[26:25] While the surface water, and this is quite interesting, I would have thought

[26:28] it would have been worse. I would have thought the surface water would be worse

[26:31] than the forest conditions. There's science reasons I've been

[26:34] educated on. The surface water quality in those categories,

[26:39] fair, poor, or very poor, 52%.

[26:44] And if we did a map of where those very poor were, you could probably pretty

[26:49] well identify them without doing any science.

[26:52] because it's downstream of Richmond Hill. It's downstream of Brampton. It's

[26:57] down It's It's It's where the agglomerations are because we have too

[27:01] much concrete and poor such poor stormwater treatment. So, we're we're

[27:06] not in good condition and this really applies to to Mono.

[27:13] Given the increase of sprawl and the Ford government has imposed sprawl on

[27:18] some communities like um Caledon and Halton, they wanted to intensify their

[27:23] downtowns and build up. And the Ford government imposed 9,000 acres of

[27:30] farmland in there in Halton to be converted to housing.

[27:36] They didn't want that. They were opposed to it. So, given the

[27:40] increases in urban sprawl and the and the changing climates,

[27:45] we can predict that these numbers will deteriorate.

[27:49] And there would be more and more moratoriums on development similar to

[27:52] there are in Waterloo. And some of the material from some of your counselors

[27:57] and members of MC squared that Steve so kindly forwarded me so I could get a

[28:02] background, the issue of water quantity that was raised several weeks ago and

[28:07] the report was then released from the source water protection committee where

[28:10] there's a mid-term quantity concern. You're on it. It's not imminent. It's

[28:16] not going to happen tomorrow. People have time to responsibly work on it. But

[28:22] you'll end up like Waterloo if if that's not dealt with. Waterloo is not They're

[28:28] actually houses that are built. They won't give them water. Those developers

[28:32] are threatening to sue. Um there's other developments won't

[28:36] start yet cuz they haven't got their water allocation. Developers

[28:41] are going to lose their workforce. If you can't keep the framers and the

[28:45] electricians and the plumbers and the concrete pores engaged, they're going to

[28:49] find a job in another community and eventually move. Then you're going to

[28:53] have to re-attract your workforce. So there's this multiplier effect from

[28:58] stupidity. And whereas Walkerton was caused by poor

[29:03] water quality monitoring, in fact criminally poor,

[29:08] Waterloo is being caused by poor water quantity monitoring. They weren't

[29:13] monitoring their wells. And the fed the provincial government

[29:17] was issuing permits for aggregate pits with no

[29:21] consideration at all for water and below water table aggregate pits. So these are

[29:26] all things that act together

[29:31] and I'm way on to the next page. >> [laughter]

[29:35] » So that's why we're very concerned and I'm thrilled to see that you're on this,

[29:39] that you're planning in advance and the report, the actual report that was

[29:43] tabled, I think took away a lot of the concern that people had when they first

[29:47] heard there's a water qual quantity crisis in Mono. I think it's not

[29:52] imminent. I think you've got time to work for it and the report's very

[29:56] encouraging on those fronts. So those are the fragmentation issues.

[30:01] This is what happens when we have this over 40 agencies involved in in

[30:06] watershed management. The other one that's happened, go away. Go away, I

[30:11] don't want you there. Is dilution.

[30:15] The provincial government has wants to take the planet back to the

[30:21] volcanic rock it was with no water on it. They just don't like water. The

[30:27] housing action plan, we're on like we're on like version seven right now cuz they

[30:33] can't get it right. They keep taking away laws and regulations encouraging

[30:38] the developers to build. Zero condo starts in the first quarter of this year

[30:44] in Toronto. Um

[30:47] the developers just don't have the right conditions. And the government's trying

[30:51] hard to encourage housing. We need housing. We need affordable housing. I'm

[30:56] not against that, but when you give away so much, way back when they were first

[31:02] elected, they actually the first bill that they proposed had a section in it

[31:08] to to establish special bylaw areas. Where municipalities were alleviated

[31:15] from the responsibility of honoring the the Clean Water Act. Well, that's a good

[31:20] thing to do. Who needs to honor the Clean Water Act, which is what sets up

[31:23] the Source Protection Committees. That we beat them back. Environmental

[31:27] Defense, thank goodness, spent $150,000 on a campaign that we supported. That

[31:34] bill was withdrawn from the house. We've had virtually no similar successes

[31:38] since. Uh and now that's not special bylaw

[31:42] areas, it's special economic zones. Uh which is why they're going to they're

[31:47] going to steal the airport. It's what they're doing with Ontario Place. It's

[31:50] what they're going to do in the Ring of Fire. Um obviously they streamline

[31:54] approvals. Uh this is a biggie. Bill 185

[31:59] if in the past you were downstream of a development and you were concerned about

[32:05] the stormwater plan and and the volume and the sediment what

[32:09] you were going to get downstream water and the sediment gets deposited on the

[32:13] gravel beds where the fish breed and the temperature changes. Um those were

[32:19] reasons to be able to appeal the Ontario Land Tribunal.

[32:23] Now you can only appeal if you're on a contiguous property

[32:30] and oh by the way, you had to be involved in the public meetings from the

[32:34] very beginning or else you weren't allowed to appeal.

[32:37] So, the it's just this horrible table of development at any cost.

[32:44] Um I won't get into section 4.2 of the PPS, but that's directs municipalities

[32:49] to they actually have to embrace the

[32:52] watershed at the meaningful level for planning and they have to protect,

[32:56] restore, or improve water through their planning. No municipality is doing that.

[33:00] I've made 12 presentations in the last year. They want no part of it and the

[33:05] government's not going to force them to do it. Right now and we have omnibus

[33:09] bills with no consultation, no committee meetings, and closure. So, this

[33:13] government really doesn't want to talk about water. On Thursday nights

[33:18] Steve Clark, who was forced to resign from the Greenbelt scandal, where he was

[33:22] taking land out of the out of the Greenbelt, he is now proposed that Bill

[33:26] 97 be voted on in the house and never mind the committee hearings. Well, Bill

[33:31] 97 happens to be the consolidation of conservation

[33:35] authorities. Oh, and by the way, it has freedom of information changes.

[33:40] And if they if we get access to all of the papers, maybe somebody's going to

[33:45] jail. So, they're they're trying to rush Bill

[33:49] 97 to the floor of the house without any committee hearings whatsoever. This is

[33:54] our government. There are other aligned reductions encouraged by the Housing

[33:58] Action Plan. The Endangered Species Act has become a joke.

[34:02] Uh you used to be able to have to protect um the habitat, the range of a

[34:07] species. Now, you only have to you only have to protect the den.

[34:13] So, like where a turtle lays their eggs, you have to protect it. Where the turtle

[34:18] can live and eat, you don't have to. Um and on and on and

[34:23] on. I call it the pitiful aggregate policies because our pits can now get

[34:29] they're just below water table's not a problem.

[34:32] So, it used to be uh

[34:35] it used to have to have municipal approval.

[34:38] Because below the water table can impact municipal water, and the counselors have

[34:43] a legal obligation to protect the health of their municipality.

[34:46] They took it away. So, you don't you don't have a say now

[34:50] in below water table pits. And on and on, I'm going to go

[34:55] I'm just about need to wrap up. Um and then of course I mentioned

[35:01] earlier the twin climate and biodiversity crisis. So, these are the

[35:04] really big challenges on on water. So, we think watershed management has had

[35:12] its day. Thank you, world-leading, fabulous,

[35:18] fragmented and diluted. Uh and we think it should be changed for

[35:25] a system based on watershed security with aspirational goals and

[35:31] science-based outcomes. I'm going to give you two.

[35:34] The provincial targets should mimic something in a federal

[35:40] guideline called how much habitat is enough.

[35:43] The federal guideline suggests that you you should protect a minimum of 30% of a

[35:49] watershed in natural heritage, 40% is better, and 50% is opt 60 50% is

[35:55] optimal. We have no targets at all for maintaining natural heritage in Ontario.

[36:02] We have the Greenbelt, thank you very much, that's great. But every watershed

[36:06] should If you cut down all the trees and drain all the wetlands, that watershed's

[36:11] going to deteriorate. So, we need prevent And all those are in how much

[36:15] habitat is enough. The percentage of wetlands that should be there, the

[36:18] percentage of treed edges along streams for for 30 m, uh,

[36:25] overall natural heritage for the watershed. We

[36:29] don't have any aspirational targets. Here's the second one. Um, we have

[36:33] something called the Ontario provincial water quality objectives.

[36:39] That's what sets it. There are there it's not exactly the same as

[36:44] um, the arsenic and selenium issues that you have here, but for

[36:50] scores of chemicals um, like E. coli in the water there are targets that you

[36:56] should not go over for which start to impact fish health,

[37:02] the other creatures that live in the water, and of course drinking water. We

[37:06] have targets.

[37:09] There's no triggers.

[37:13] We know of streams that have exceeded E. coli and other key

[37:19] objectives in the water in the provincial water quality year after year

[37:25] after year. No agency is tasked with addressing it

[37:30] from what level. That's um,

[37:34] what I meant earlier by science-based outcomes.

[37:39] That's what I meant earlier when I talked about the temperature of the fish

[37:43] where these people are meeting in committee to determine whether or not

[37:46] the effluent coming out of the Erin STP is going to kill the brook trout. And

[37:51] » [laughter] >> and at one point somebody from CV said,

[37:54] "You know, you're right, but we're we it's microclimate and we have we have

[37:59] other streams that are above this temperature and we have brook trout. So,

[38:03] if if we kill the brook trout in this tributary of the Credit, we'll just go

[38:07] get some from another from another creek." And I said to them,

[38:11] "Oh, which sci- which international science journal did you report that to?

[38:17] Cuz I haven't seen that." >> [laughter]

[38:21] » So, uh, we need standards, targets, and and people should be responsible, not a

[38:28] committee meeting, but maybe the conservation authority should be

[38:31] responsible for this, the municipality for that, the provincial government for

[38:35] this, and uh you know who to call. So, that's we believe shifting to watershed

[38:40] security. And um that's why we have the big poster.

[38:45] Uh watershed security, and that's why we have a handout handout

[38:51] and a little poster which is the municipal lens for

[38:56] watershed security. We're Within a month, we'll have a whole slew of these.

[39:00] We have the watershed security, the municipal, the provincial had was held

[39:04] up. The provincial guidelines are coming out next week. Um and then we're going

[39:08] to get to agriculture and aggregates. We'll have sectors and targets,

[39:12] science-based targets for every sector so we can treat our water better.

[39:17] I hope I'm near the end. Oh, look at this.

[39:20] Magic.

[39:25] I was encouraged when the Michael?

[39:28] There's too many new names. I'm Doug. Doug, sorry. My apologies, Doug.

[39:32] He reminded us of what the goals of MC Squared are. You know, that's absolutely

[39:37] perfect. Monitor and meet and publish and and get the citizens engaged. Um

[39:44] that's absolutely perfect. We believe that what Mono needs to continue doing

[39:50] is through all the emails that I was sent, again, thank you, Stephen, on

[39:54] what's happening, whether it's the uh the new developments,

[39:59] uh the inability to turn on the um sewage treatment plant, uh the growing

[40:04] arsenic, um those you're you're on it. You're doing

[40:09] the right things. You're looking at the reports. You're engaging people. We

[40:12] would suggest that this needs more engagement.

[40:18] Um that you need to build allies. Go to the meetings. Uh

[40:24] who's there? Talk to the funny guy in the red shirt. Oh, wait. Wait a minute.

[40:29] Not me. Um and find out what they do and what

[40:32] resources they have, what they know. Uh build allies. And the most important

[40:37] thing is, other than I'm I'm going to touch on these in a minute, is

[40:41] concentrate on the policies, not the politics.

[40:47] We are a registered charity. We're not allowed to lobby.

[40:52] But And people say, "How can you write that stuff, Andrew?" Well, this is this

[40:56] on the policies. It's not political. I'm not saying vote for the left-hand

[41:00] party over the right-hand party. We're saying we want these policies. And you

[41:05] can do that without any fear at whatsoever. Um so, I encourage you to

[41:10] understand the local policies, uh sort out the

[41:14] uh concrete the sensitive, compassionate elected leaders. Find those allies there

[41:21] and ask You were mentioning uh you know what's

[41:24] going on in Caledon. Uh Caledon is trying to put in 35,000 homes on 7,000

[41:30] acres north of a particular road, and they put forward 12 bylaws,

[41:35] uh and Democracy Caledon has spent so far over $200,000 on a judicial review

[41:41] that those bylaws are illegal. Um and you need to find You need to get way

[41:47] ahead of that. You need to do that at the official plan. Need to do that at

[41:51] the block at the uh secondary planning. You need to be involved, um and uh

[41:56] concentrate on the policy, not the politics. Uh Rural Democracy Caledon is

[42:01] being slagged uh as a as a bunch of wannabes who want

[42:06] to be elected, and that they're hurting Caledon. It's just the the the

[42:09] temperature up there is horrible. The elected politicians are being political,

[42:14] but the charities can't be political. Concentrate on the policies. So, those

[42:18] are the the big takeaways. Uh 22 minutes.

[42:23] Um Support the conservation authority.

[42:27] Consider how you can integrate land use and watershed planning at the municipal

[42:31] level. Map and include your significant source water contribution areas, locally

[42:37] significant wetlands in official plans. And then defend them. Sometimes

[42:42] significant wetlands get filled in accidentally by sediment

[42:48] and gravel trucks. Um And then they're not a significant

[42:52] wetland anymore. And all the wildlife's gone, and they're not filtering water

[42:55] very well. So, you've got to map them and defend them. Um same with the key

[43:00] source water protection areas, uh and exclude them for site alteration

[43:05] planning. That's where you don't pay attention in

[43:08] a a motion goes to council to approve it. If

[43:12] Wait a minute. Isn't this on a protected infiltration zone from the source

[43:16] protection committee? Oh, well, we're going to put down some special

[43:20] low-impact development, permeable pavement. It's okay. Don't worry about

[43:24] it. Ain't. They need to be excluded from site

[43:28] alteration planning. Uh the rest I've already spoken to. I'm sorry went a few

[43:33] minutes over. I hope you find the handout helpful for further details.

[43:39] Thank you very much. >> [applause]

[43:46] » You're welcome, Andrew. Thank you. Thank you, Andrew. Uh we have time for a

[43:51] couple of questions if anybody had anything for uh for Andrew.

[43:59] All right, behind you, Stephen.

[44:03] Hi, Andrew. I have a question about uh how many municipalities in Dufferin

[44:07] County have you presented to?

[44:11] What was the question? How many municipalities in Dufferin

[44:16] County have been uh

[44:19] has this uh been received so

[44:26] Um we We're we're

[44:30] didn't get to plug our organization very much. Um we rely tremendously on the

[44:35] fabulous legal and planning resources of the B's.

[44:39] Uh Terra Nature, Environmental Defence, um

[44:43] Canadian Environmental Law Association. Those organizations

[44:48] um are the leaders in the intellectual

[44:50] capital. We steal and borrow their stuff.

[44:56] We're different They they don't get above Highway 7. We have 50 partner

[45:01] organizations north of Highway 7. So, we we depute when our neighbors call

[45:07] us in. We were in Pickering, uh we're in Haliburton, we're on Lake

[45:12] Simcoe, we're in in on the Credit. So, Halton Region, Peel Region,

[45:20] uh Dufferin?

[45:22] No. We're Dufferin. I always do that. Um

[45:27] Durham. Durham. So, we it's just we we I get

[45:32] paid 12 weeks a year. So, I think we we hit above our batting

[45:38] average. We're we really Our batting average is above our IQ. Let me say it

[45:42] that way. Um but we we go where somebody's seeded the ground, we get

[45:47] called in to help. To to show up at a council meeting uninvited, they say,

[45:52] "Well, who's this guy? He doesn't live here."

[45:55] And then the way it's it would be you'd be amazed. We deputed to

[46:01] uh Muskoka.

[46:06] And we're on the watershed uh Muskoka Watershed Council for about a year. And

[46:11] And we It was like uh we were like wearing the wrong color

[46:15] shirt, I tell you. They We We didn't live there. They didn't want to hear

[46:18] from us. So, it's really nice to be invited.

[46:21] We're happy to be in a collective effort. Uh we'll funnel

[46:26] you the stuff we uh beg, borrow, or steal from the Big East. Uh keep you

[46:30] informed. Make sure policy recommendations are accurate. But we

[46:35] just don't have the resources to depute all over the place.

[46:39] Sorry for the long answer. Yeah, if you could uh come up here, use

[46:43] the microphone. Oh, I got a microphone for you.

[46:49] Thanks for your presentation, Andrew. Uh it's good to see this happening uh

[46:56] because our our county really really needs it. And uh have to

[47:01] examine what we're doing and and plan better for what's coming up in the

[47:05] future. Uh I have two questions. One is uh

[47:10] where does water fall in the uh Charter of Rights and Freedoms in

[47:15] Canada?

[47:20] Hello.

[47:25] And while you're thinking about that >> a movement. Uh you know, the Council of

[47:30] Canadians has been arguing for years that um that water is part of the global

[47:34] commons and we have should have a right to water. But it's it's not made any

[47:38] progress constitutionally.

[47:43] Wouldn't it make sense if if if it was included in the Charter of Rights, if we

[47:48] had the right to clean water? Would it not wouldn't uh a lot of these

[47:53] problems be taken care of or be addressed.

[47:58] Oh, Virginia, there is no Santa Claus. Um, are you a journalist? No. Well, good

[48:06] questions and you're taking notes, which always make me very afraid. Um,

[48:10] so, here's a little bauble that people might not be aware of. Um, the

[48:16] Constitution separates responsibilities for the feds and the province. So, the

[48:22] feds have uh international waters, waters that cross boundaries. Um,

[48:28] so, uh and and the um the Great Lakes, uh

[48:34] navigable waters, which is where larger, not your your uh

[48:39] eight horsepower, nine horsepower boat goes, but navigable waters.

[48:43] Um, and fisheries. That's their responsibility.

[48:48] They don't have a constitutional responsibility for watershed management.

[48:55] They Health Canada has obligations to protect drinking water and they work on

[49:01] the Interprovincial Council on Drinking Water through the Canadian Council of

[49:05] Ministers of the Environment in Winnipeg, uh so that there's some common

[49:09] standards. But, Ontario owns the lake bed under the Great Lakes, under on our

[49:16] side of the line. The feds don't. Um, and Ontario is very territorial with

[49:22] respect to its actions or non-actions on water. Um,

[49:28] under the under a provincial-federal

[49:33] agreement, there are huge efforts underway right now

[49:37] uh to address algae in Lake Erie.

[49:42] And um and so there's one of those committees I

[49:46] was talking about, there's federal, provincial, conservation authority,

[49:49] municipalities, farmers' organizations working on reducing the nitrates to

[49:55] reduce the algae in Lake Erie. Um and it's a big target for the

[50:00] International Joint Commission. There's

[50:03] there's no written mandate for that committee.

[50:07] We can't get a list of who from which agencies are on that committee, and

[50:11] there's no budget for that committee. We have suggested to the federal

[50:16] government that this exercise be a model to write watershed

[50:22] management into the agreement that I mentioned. I didn't do that. Um

[50:28] and so these things move very slowly, and there's because the province wants

[50:34] to have control over the water that it's not protecting,

[50:38] uh these collaboration efforts are really, really tough. So, it's a good

[50:42] question. I really don't have a a solid answer for you. I'm sorry. Okay, and

[50:47] part two has to do with a relatively new phenomenon,

[50:51] uh and I want to know if it falls in the same bucket as aggregate, and that is

[50:55] uh data mana- data centers. And are there do to your knowledge, are

[51:01] there any data centers proposed for Ontario? And if one is proposed, does it

[51:06] get treated the same way that aggregate gets treated, and the public has no say?

[51:11] It's too It's too It's too early. Um there are huge organizations and and um

[51:18] collaboratives in the US um because they're far more prevalent there, and

[51:23] they have less water there. Um and and so our American colleagues are leading

[51:28] the charge on um against uh

[51:31] these data centers. The big guys, like Zuckerberg, have pledged that they're

[51:37] not going to take any local energy to make the energy rates go up. Um so,

[51:42] they're talking about small nuclear reactors to power their data centers.

[51:48] Yay, let's do that. Um and and the other issue is water to cool

[51:53] um to to cool the the heat generated by these uh data

[51:58] centers. Um we're not near that here. I don't know of any data center that's

[52:03] been proposed yet in Ontario. The concern is the 700 acres that is being

[52:08] ex- um

[52:11] What is that legal term? Expropriated? in Wilmot County. All prime agricultural

[52:16] land, 700 acres, and the town says the province wants it. The province says,

[52:21] "No, no, the town wants it for employment." Nobody knows what it's for.

[52:26] Is it a Chrysler EV plant? Is it another Amazon warehouse?

[52:32] Is it data centers? Nobody knows. And what's going on in Wilmot County, it's

[52:38] so bad and it ties into um the Waterloo water shortage because within the last

[52:44] couple of weeks, Waterloo canceled its 1981 agreement with Wilmot County that

[52:52] it would never come and take any of Wilmot County's water.

[52:55] Now with the water moratorium and they need water, they have ripped that they

[52:59] have informed Wilmot County that that agreement is null and void. So we're

[53:04] waiting for the next shoe to drop. Really good questions. These things are

[53:08] unfolding in real time. Elaine, did you have comment?

[53:13] One comment and then one quick question. So I may be misremembering this, but I

[53:20] thought that water was declared a human right at the UN.

[53:29] I wish I could answer that. Well, I'm just putting that out there so we can

[53:33] all look it up on Google. Anyway, but I I I did think that that was the case.

[53:39] Um also, my question is because all the hydrologists that come

[53:45] and tell us that drilling below the water table is no big deal, take all the

[53:49] cap off the water and nothing's going to happen.

[53:52] Is that true? What is the impact to the water after you take all the gravel away

[53:59] and just have a big open pond?

[54:03] Thank you.

[54:06] Tough crowd.

[54:09] There

[54:12] So, the first thing I would say is that um

[54:17] part of this goes back to the Wellington Water Watchers and the the big battle

[54:21] they had up there with um Nestlé and their water bottling plant.

[54:26] Um and uh it it gets into two things. At what level

[54:34] at what depth is is the groundwater? Um and Nestlé was maintaining that they

[54:39] were down like 600 ft.

[54:42] That they weren't taking water from the near surface aquifers that the town was

[54:47] going to be using. Um and they were so, you know, it was

[54:51] the largest number of submissions on the environmental registry of Ontario ever

[54:55] at that point in time. People wanted them out and Nestlé sold their plant and

[55:00] left. Um and they felt that it was a lack of science knowledge by the

[55:05] community. It was misinformation and political campaigning. That's their

[55:09] position. The other thing that I was working with the Wellington Water

[55:13] Watchers and I I asked them, "W- What's the What's the discharge What's the

[55:18] drawdown? And what's the recharge rate?"

[55:23] They They had no idea. And so, that's why it's so important to

[55:27] do the monitoring. That's why what's happened in Waterloo is a crime. They're

[55:30] supposed to do the monitoring. They should know the recharge rate and the

[55:34] withdrawal rate. And you you say, "Well, we'll have water for 30 years or we have

[55:38] water for 12 months. Nobody's allowed to water their grass anymore." Right? And

[55:41] that didn't happen there. So, the the question of Now, but but aggregate pits

[55:49] don't necessarily flow to municipal reservoirs.

[55:54] Aggregate quarries, uh a lot of that water

[56:00] goes into back into the If it's on the Niagara Escarpment, for example,

[56:04] Dufferin The Dufferin pit, when you drive on the 401, you see the bridge

[56:08] through the broken gap in the escarpment, um they

[56:13] That's on dolomite. It's fractured dolomite. Horrendous recharge rate.

[56:17] That's why those rivers are still cold water streams with cold water fishing.

[56:21] Because of that. So, what they're doing is they have 27 pumps. They pump the

[56:25] water back underground. Um so, where is the Where does the water

[56:31] go? Um Those issues need to be mapped, and

[56:35] groundwater is really difficult to map. Um

[56:39] Uh but so, there needs to be a better job of saying, "Well, what is the risk?"

[56:44] If we don't know the risk, we need to We need to make rules based on the risk.

[56:48] But, one of the challenges in the aggregate is that it's fire and forget.

[56:54] If If you are on a well, and a new pit goes in or a pit gets expanded, and

[57:00] suddenly you've got to drill another 100 ft for water,

[57:05] and you want to think what maybe has something to do with the expansion of

[57:09] this pit, it's on you.

[57:12] You have to hire a hydrogeologist. You have to pay for the studies. You have to

[57:17] prove why the water table dropped, and it was related to their activities over

[57:22] there. And so, this reverse onus, that's like guilty until proven innocent.

[57:28] Right? And And so, the aggregate pits are getting away with a lot of

[57:33] activity without the science and without the responsibility. And and I just think

[57:37] they need to be more responsible human beings than than they are now.

[57:41] Currently, there's a uh there's a huge more

[57:45] couple of organizations are demanding a moratorium on any new gravel pits

[57:49] opening in Ontario. We think that's a bit extreme. We just

[57:55] think that you should open no aggregate pits below the water table.

[57:59] So, but they don't like our suggestion. Okay, I'm going to have to call it

[58:03] there. We've got 2 minutes for our coffee break. Just a warning very

[58:07] quickly, the UN declared water a human right in 2010.

[58:11] There you go. Quick fast uh breaking news. Bonus. Um

[58:16] Andrew, thank you again. Folks, we have 5 minutes for coffee, then we're going

[58:20] to come back here for the rest of the program.

[58:23] Fantastic.

[1:01:24] » Mhm.

[1:03:19] » Mhm.

[1:05:14] » Mhm.

[1:07:13] » Hear me now? >> [laughter]

[1:07:15] » Okay. So, um

[1:07:18] My name is Cherish Armstrong, and I come to you as a member of the town's climate

[1:07:23] action committee. This committee was formed in December of

[1:07:26] 2025 at the direction of council to guide the implementation of the town's

[1:07:30] climate action initiatives. Due to some unfortunate bad luck and

[1:07:35] some even worse weather, we finally had our inaugural meeting at the end of

[1:07:39] March. The committee hopes to continue the tradition that the town of Mono has

[1:07:44] had in trying to mitigate the effects of the emissions that cause climate change.

[1:07:49] All the lights in this building, and as all of Mono's buildings, are LED. We've

[1:07:54] installed solar panels on the top of the public works building, and the town has

[1:07:59] just ordered its first electric pickup truck.

[1:08:02] We've identified our initial project as areas and assigned them to

[1:08:06] subcommittees. These project areas are public education campaigns, options for

[1:08:12] green energy production like solar panels for the municipality and private

[1:08:16] residents, agriculture and home gardening initiatives, and an updated

[1:08:21] energy audit. These are ideas identified as

[1:08:24] by committee members for the initial work for the climate action committee.

[1:08:29] Members of the public are always welcome to attend meetings and join

[1:08:33] subcommittees to help in this important work. Solving climate change requires us

[1:08:38] all to work together. But, in honor of Earth Day next week, I personally would

[1:08:43] like to encourage you to do whatever you can because every little bit helps.

[1:08:48] Whether it's carrying a reusable coffee cup, getting the kids involved in

[1:08:52] recycling as much as you can, or investigating the possibilities of

[1:08:55] switching your heating and cooling systems in your home, your actions add

[1:08:59] up in the long run. Thank you.

[1:09:03] » [applause] >> Thanks, Chair.

[1:09:08] Thank you, Chair, for that. Okay, it's time for the main event. It is your

[1:09:11] opportunity to ask questions of your council.

[1:09:16] Um I would ask that you use a microphone so that to everyone can hear you. Uh you

[1:09:21] state your name and to at least to start off, if I could ask just one question to

[1:09:26] per participant and then we can uh make sure that we hear from all who wish to

[1:09:32] uh seek some answers.

[1:09:35] Do I have anybody coming to the on at bat circle? Here we go.

[1:09:44] Hi, my name is Marion Heron. I live in uh on Blind Line.

[1:09:49] Um my question is always not always. Uh I'm interested in water and so I really

[1:09:54] enjoyed this presentation. So, thank you.

[1:09:57] Um I'm wondering about Watermark the development there. Uh

[1:10:01] one, the water treatment plant when the when the it was built, they had

[1:10:07] problems with the water treatment and I wondered if that's been finalized,

[1:10:12] finished, and is it now working okay so there's not trucks going back and forth

[1:10:17] with effluent problems? And the part of the uh what is happening

[1:10:22] to the land use? The developer wanted to put a lot of townhouses in there and I

[1:10:27] haven't heard anything about what's happening to that land and what happened

[1:10:31] when it went to the tribunal or some review by the Ontario government and I

[1:10:36] haven't heard anything more about what's happening to that land.

[1:10:40] So, it's a two-part question.

[1:10:45] Could we just clarify, Marion, are you asking about the water treatment plant

[1:10:49] or the sewage treatment plant? >> Sorry, sewage treatment plant. Forgive

[1:10:52] me. Yeah. I'm I'm the best person to speak to

[1:10:56] that. I know they're working very hard to fix the There are problems. But she's

[1:11:00] talking about water. >> The the

[1:11:03] Oh, the Watermark one. They're all They're all

[1:11:07] The water The Watermark one? Yes. Well, I think there's still problems there. I

[1:11:11] haven't heard I mean, that's owned by a condo organization, not by the town. So,

[1:11:16] there's no cost to the town on that. No, okay.

[1:11:21] Eric Grielman? [clears throat] Um as far as I know, the Watermark plant

[1:11:26] is functioning. Um you will always have some truck

[1:11:31] movements because it needs to be cleaned out every once in

[1:11:35] a while apart from you know, the simple operation.

[1:11:39] Uh as for the the developers' land, uh we were

[1:11:45] successful in in getting that before both the Ontario Land Tribunal as well

[1:11:51] as the Superior Court. I would say that it is in limbo at the present time. Uh

[1:11:57] there's nothing to report, but the plan that they submitted to the

[1:12:02] town of of Mono was found to be questionable in our in our view, and we

[1:12:08] went to the Ontario Land Tribunal, and it also peeled off to the Superior

[1:12:13] Court, and we won in both venues.

[1:12:21] Do I have to press something? I don't think so. Okay. It's magic. Uh Signy

[1:12:25] Ball from Mono Waste Centre. Um about I

[1:12:30] Well, let me preface by saying I have driven through Caledon recently a fair

[1:12:35] bit and been

[1:12:38] pretty horrified by the houses monster homes that are going up there

[1:12:43] sitting on the side of the road sprinkled [clears throat] all through

[1:12:46] the town. Three years ago, Mono discussed

[1:12:54] figuring out how to manage monster homes in our town,

[1:13:00] um including sightlines, setbacks, maximum square footages,

[1:13:07] and also possibly lowering the minimum square footage on other homes.

[1:13:13] So, I'm just wondering where that might stand.

[1:13:20] What a great question. In fact, I raised this at our own council meeting just

[1:13:25] this week. So, we have on our unfinished business list, which is a list of items

[1:13:32] that we've brought forward at the table, and that we've needed to assign to

[1:13:36] staff, and staff have all their other duties to do, and then we come up with

[1:13:40] these brilliant ideas. And so, there is an outstanding,

[1:13:45] um item to review and create a large homes

[1:13:52] bylaw. So, that is being worked on. And now, I don't have

[1:13:58] the dates in front of me to say, but it will be um

[1:14:02] in the coming up quarter, I I believe. So, it's with our planning group.

[1:14:06] And so, they're looking at where does that belong in our official plan and in

[1:14:10] our zoning bylaws, and it's it's complicated. Um

[1:14:14] and so, they're working on that. So, it's it's it's there, and it's on my

[1:14:19] radar, and our radar. So, thank you for that question.

[1:14:23] Councilor Mantello? Uh thank you, Elaine. And in further,

[1:14:27] the uh actually, we did get a a plan, which was presented to us Sydney,

[1:14:33] and um we didn't like it, so it's been sent back, and we're asking for them to

[1:14:37] redo it again. In all fairness, that was from a

[1:14:42] previous planner, and it was a while ago, and it wasn't what we were looking

[1:14:46] for. So, now it is back with planning to come back with

[1:14:51] we gave them more direction. So, yes, that's correct.

[1:14:56] We have a question that came in online just prior to the meeting from Jacob

[1:15:01] Bennington. Does the town have a program for

[1:15:04] managing invasive phragmites in the area? If not, is the town aware that

[1:15:08] there is funding by the MNR through the Ontario phragmites action program to

[1:15:13] support new existing initiatives to prevent, manage, and control this

[1:15:18] invasive species? Councilor Nix.

[1:15:22] Um Okay,

[1:15:25] the answer is is multi-layered. We we have a volunteer committee called the

[1:15:29] Headwater Streams Committee. Karen Morrison back there is the chair. We do

[1:15:33] a bit of work on phragmites. It's total volunteer labor.

[1:15:38] Uh if someone's got phragmites on their property,

[1:15:41] we can go out there and show them how to remove it or help

[1:15:45] them remove it. We we've tried it in several locations.

[1:15:48] Backing up a few years earlier than this, and I'm not sure it's still in the

[1:15:52] budget, we did have uh some money in our municipal budget to

[1:15:57] look at phragmites in our in a few of our um stormwater management ponds and

[1:16:03] ditches. I'm not sure that's still running. We did it the same year the

[1:16:06] county was trying to handle phragmites. On a broader scale, and I sit on the

[1:16:12] board of Credit Valley Conservation, um we did put in a request for a grant,

[1:16:17] uh fairly large grant for a 5-year program to handle phragmites at Island

[1:16:21] Lake. Um it it's serious at Island Lake. We've

[1:16:25] mapped it. We have a management plan, but we didn't get the grant. So, uh we

[1:16:30] don't have any we being the CVC, Credit Valley

[1:16:34] Conservation, doesn't have any sort of spare change itself that it can spend on

[1:16:38] phragmites. It it I'm going on memory. I think we needed

[1:16:44] Yeah, don't quote me on this. Half a million dollars for a 5-year program to

[1:16:48] handle the phragmites at Island Lake. I think it was half half a million.

[1:16:51] Anyway, we didn't we didn't get the grant. We'll keep trying though.

[1:17:01] Can't hear you on the recording if we don't. All right. Okay. Hi. I know most

[1:17:06] of you. Um just a quick question. What are your

[1:17:09] council doing to support Melancthon council with the strata aggregates Corey

[1:17:14] situation?

[1:17:20] Mayor Gilman?

[1:17:23] Uh we're very aware of the the threat that Melancthon is under and in fact

[1:17:28] adjacent municipalities are under with proposal to mine beneath the the the

[1:17:33] water table. Um explosively mine, not simply dig.

[1:17:40] Uh we have supported them with a motion. We've talked about it at county council

[1:17:45] as well. Uh it's it's truly truly disturbing,

[1:17:49] frankly. And Melancthon has been through a lot.

[1:17:52] This isn't this isn't the the first proposal. There was one a number of

[1:17:57] years ago uh by a hedge fund out of Boston to create a mega mega gravel pit

[1:18:04] up there. Uh they had the effect of buying

[1:18:08] properties, tearing houses down, destroying the assessment base,

[1:18:13] and then they were chased out of out of town.

[1:18:16] Uh Just so you know, I'm sorry to interrupt. We chased them out of town.

[1:18:20] We chased them out of town because of a federal environment assessment. Yes. So,

[1:18:26] my question to you guys is and to everyone, the province isn't going to

[1:18:31] help with this. If anyone has connections

[1:18:35] or please write. Carney's office is very good in supporting me and fisheries and

[1:18:42] Kyle. I'm I'm not I'm looking at the people, not the party. Okay? Um

[1:18:48] I would really appreciate everyone in this room writing Carney's office about

[1:18:52] the situation and fisheries and Kyle. I'm sorry to interject.

[1:19:00] Perhaps the premier could fly in on his new jet.

[1:19:03] Well, actually I I just want to May I just

[1:19:07] tell my quick story? [laughter] So, Doug Ford called me on a Sunday

[1:19:11] morning and said he doesn't make deals, De

[1:19:15] Gasperis is not his friend, and asked who our MPP was.

[1:19:23] Okay. Thank you.

[1:19:27] Nancy, could I just add to that? >> Oh, yeah.

[1:19:29] » [laughter] >> Could I just add to that answer what

[1:19:31] Nancy said? Going back to the mega pit that we defeated 10 Corey 10 years ago.

[1:19:37] Here's the difference and and Andrew, you you're probably aware of this.

[1:19:41] Under the old rules, the lead agency there in terms of getting the study the

[1:19:46] technical studies that were done and having them peer reviewed was the

[1:19:49] conservation authority, the NVCA. Today,

[1:19:53] conservation authorities don't have that power. At Credit Valley, we're facing a

[1:19:57] very giant pit that and we as a conservation authority

[1:20:02] don't even have a say. We do we we are not even a commenting agency on on that

[1:20:05] one because the province has taken away our power to talk to talk to

[1:20:09] municipalities about natural heritage features.

[1:20:15] All right, we've got a couple of questions that

[1:20:19] MC Squared came up with over time. Um is council planning some evening council

[1:20:26] meetings to facilitate our large commuting population to participate in

[1:20:30] council affairs in person. Anyone like to

[1:20:35] Councilor Maglone? I'll answer that because I'm sort of responsible for

[1:20:40] initiating the change about 8 years ago or so.

[1:20:44] Nobody was coming in the evening. So

[1:20:48] we had a number of blurry-eyed counselors and others

[1:20:52] that were felt they could deal with their

[1:20:55] their brain would be functioning better in the morning and we've gone to

[1:20:58] mornings for that reason. The recognize what you're saying but the

[1:21:03] other thing that we've done which I think is really quite fantastic is that

[1:21:07] all of our meetings are on YouTube.

[1:21:11] And the meetings are itemized so that you can go in and you can pick out item

[1:21:14] number seven sort of thing click on it without having to listen to everything.

[1:21:18] And you can do that anytime that you want and that's the way a lot of people

[1:21:22] are picking up on our council meetings now.

[1:21:28] Thank you very much. I was just going to add to that that yes you brought it up.

[1:21:32] When I joined we were doing them afternoon and morning through and then

[1:21:37] looking at how who's coming. This is terrific that you're all here today but

[1:21:41] you guys don't come on Tuesdays whether it was in the evening or in the morning

[1:21:44] because it's Tuesday right? Like there's everybody's got stuff to do. So at the

[1:21:48] same time that that we we said there were there weren't enough people and

[1:21:53] what when do we as a as a group function? Of course the staff you have

[1:21:57] to if they're here in the evening then you get them they're in loose so then

[1:22:01] they're not going to be here on a Wednesday afternoon when you need them

[1:22:04] cuz we've had to give them time off. So we there was a lot of reasons but it was

[1:22:08] also because of the of this electronic world that we live in now that we could

[1:22:13] have them on the not only is it recorded and you can look at it later which

[1:22:19] without question generates questions from the public. We get we we get a lot

[1:22:23] of emails from people saying I just watched the meeting Here's my question.

[1:22:28] Um and and also the the um being able to phone in and participate or computer in

[1:22:35] and and participate during even if you're at work. So many people work from

[1:22:39] home and so they can be using their computer and so on. So I think certainly

[1:22:42] there's a new council coming. I guess I I would be open I'd be open between now

[1:22:47] and and the end of this term to to entertain trying a trying again just in

[1:22:52] the spirit of the question, but um it's not it's not necessarily going to

[1:22:57] get more people out I don't think by the the time of day. It's more getting the

[1:23:01] information of what's going to be discussed and what has been discussed

[1:23:06] out to the public. Mr. Truman? Oh. I was just going to say

[1:23:10] that we did reserve the right to hold night time meetings on uh particularly

[1:23:15] contentious issues. And uh we have done that uh notwithstanding the fact that uh

[1:23:21] vast [snorts] majority of our meetings have been held during the day. I'm open

[1:23:24] to the idea of uh the new council reconsidering and uh anyone considering

[1:23:30] a run for a a seat on Mono Council should be aware that the status quo

[1:23:35] could change.

[1:23:40] I'm just going to be a little bit cheeky here.

[1:23:43] How many of you will come if we host the meeting on Tuesday nights?

[1:23:51] Depends on the agenda. Well, yes, true. We we need to make the

[1:23:54] agenda exciting, but I just wanted to ask you that. And I just wanted to let

[1:23:59] you know I'm wearing my sunglasses because I have a sensitivity to these

[1:24:03] lights. So it's not cuz I'm blurry-eyed. I'm cool. This is cool.

[1:24:08] I'm cool. Bill Monroe.

[1:24:12] I object to Councillor Mike Tulo saying there were bleary-eyed people at the

[1:24:16] meetings. I used to come and I was you know, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.

[1:24:22] He us council members, so just to be clear.

[1:24:26] Well, that's taken for granted, isn't it really?

[1:24:30] I'd like to talk about water actually, but in a different sense.

[1:24:34] Uh a few years ago there was a report from

[1:24:38] Watson about the drinking water in Cardinal Woods and Master's Creek.

[1:24:43] And as a result the costs per month to those who use it went up

[1:24:50] quite high, not dollar wise, but percentage wise. And it was to pay for

[1:24:55] a few things. One of them was a an arsenic

[1:24:59] problem at Island Lake. And the other thing was a tower round

[1:25:03] about Cardinal Woods. And these things cost something like 10 millions each.

[1:25:09] This money that's been paid in from the people who use it

[1:25:14] every month. I haven't seen any

[1:25:18] tenders out for the the tower or the the arsenic plant.

[1:25:23] Is the money put in a another account? It doesn't go straight

[1:25:27] into the general account. And when are we going to get movement on the arsenic

[1:25:33] plant and the tower? Because every year you put it back, it's going to cost

[1:25:37] more. Thank you.

[1:25:42] If I can If I can, Bill. Um Uh our our water rates as well as our

[1:25:47] sewage rates uh over in uh uh the other part of the part of the

[1:25:52] town, those those monies collected are segregated. Uh it's a user pay system.

[1:25:57] And some of the money that is collected goes into a reserve for future works.

[1:26:02] And uh the rest goes into the operation of the system so that the uh taxpayer uh

[1:26:08] does not actually uh fund the operation of water and or sewage. It's the users

[1:26:14] who in fact are responsible for those costs.

[1:26:17] Uh as for the the tower, uh that was a suggestion of the ministry.

[1:26:22] I am not personally convinced that we need that kind of storage given the fact

[1:26:28] that there's very little growth anticipated over in that part of the

[1:26:32] town. And for the arsenic, there is a study ongoing or a process ongoing that

[1:26:40] will give us a series of recommendations to consider as to how we proceed with

[1:26:44] that. And and Bill, that study on the arsenic

[1:26:50] that's going forward. We got a grant to cover that. So, the the water users are

[1:26:54] not paying for that. We We did get a grant.

[1:27:08] But it was a good size grant. I forget the exact amount.

[1:27:15] Okay. Excuse me, just one more question. You

[1:27:19] know, actually talking this rhetoric. User pay for the water, that's great.

[1:27:25] What about user pay for the calcium when you don't use it?

[1:27:31] » [snorts] [clears throat]

[1:27:38] » Hi, Elaine Kehoe. Um

[1:27:42] when are we going to have a heritage committee?

[1:27:50] Um I can answer that. Uh next term. We've got We just recently in this past

[1:27:57] meeting made a motion to support extend which it

[1:28:03] hasn't particularly happened for sure, but to support the the drive for the

[1:28:07] heritage committee was that the our new government has made

[1:28:11] changes to the um ability to designate and the timing on

[1:28:17] that. And they there is a a push to um push that date out to 2030 as opposed to

[1:28:24] 2020 eight, I think it was 2027 or 28. So, right?

[1:28:29] Yeah, 2030 is the new one, but I mean I think it were we were only pushing it a

[1:28:33] little bit, but we were pushing it nonetheless.

[1:28:36] Somebody's got their hand up. A- A- And did you did you want to

[1:28:40] interrupt her with or for another question? So, so that the um there's

[1:28:44] time to for us to constitute because as we had Cherish come this morning and and

[1:28:50] make a comment, I'm sure she's here, I just can't see her. Oh, there you are.

[1:28:53] Um the that um that we struck a struck a new we get an idea to have a new

[1:28:58] committee, we strike the new committee, we interview and everything, but the

[1:29:01] actual, you know, takes weeks to get things off the ground. We're we're

[1:29:05] running very short, which is uh you know, it's going to be campaigning time

[1:29:09] soon. So, it'll be next year, but there's no question but that Mono needs

[1:29:13] a heritage committee and we've could because we've got a lot of more good

[1:29:18] work to do that that committee was doing.

[1:29:21] Just if I could add to that. We had the best heritage committee I

[1:29:28] know in Dufferin County and probably beyond our borders and they were

[1:29:34] well-known in other areas for all the great work that they did.

[1:29:40] And we went into an unfortunate situation

[1:29:44] and right now we don't have the heritage committee,

[1:29:47] um but as Melinda said, we did support uh

[1:29:52] the argument to push to 2030 for moving any

[1:29:59] properties that are on a registry cuz we we have a registry that lists all of the

[1:30:05] potential designations that we could make and there are quite a few on that

[1:30:09] list but there wasn't enough time to allow any of those designations to go

[1:30:15] forward because of the change in the policy downtown. And so now that's been

[1:30:21] pushed out so we supported that with the hope that with a new council

[1:30:28] when the new council is here that the heritage committee will be

[1:30:33] reconstituted.

[1:30:37] Clarification also on how committees work that all committees are struck by

[1:30:41] the council when a new council comes in for the idea that they'll be around for

[1:30:45] that term and even if everything was all hunky-dory and all the all the people

[1:30:51] want to be on the committee that's not necessarily that the new council's going

[1:30:54] to going to strike those same committees or strike

[1:30:57] the same and or populate them with the same people,

[1:31:00] right? It is a it is a beast of the of the

[1:31:04] sitting council. So.

[1:31:07] And the second part of that, approximately a year and a half ago

[1:31:12] myself and another realtor in the area spent a substantial amount of time

[1:31:16] putting together guidelines for realtors as a whole Toronto, Dufferin Caledon

[1:31:25] with guidelines that they would use when selling properties in different county.

[1:31:30] Nothing ever came of that, at least nothing that the Toronto Real Estate

[1:31:34] Board has been advised of. And now without the heritage committee,

[1:31:40] I've been getting comments that this is the time to buy in Mono

[1:31:44] and there's no rules in place. I know that there are rules, don't get me

[1:31:48] wrong. I'm just hearing comments to that effect. So

[1:31:53] was anything ever implemented with the guidelines that we had set out?

[1:31:59] And I want to if I could because I was part of that

[1:32:03] group and and appreciate the work that you did and that another realtor did for

[1:32:10] that and it is on our website and Andrew can confirm that I hope.

[1:32:16] Yes, yes, and yes. And did we take the next steps

[1:32:22] to distribute to because I know you kindly provided us

[1:32:26] the list. I can't answer that question. I would

[1:32:30] have to go back to check on that for you.

[1:32:36] There ended up being some some issues with respect to how the town is entitled

[1:32:41] to to broadcast things out right which is why we don't have a

[1:32:47] Facebook group and all those kinds of things. There's there's regulations. So

[1:32:52] I know that it's on our on our website for our local realtors, but you're

[1:32:56] right. If you get a realtor coming up from someplace else who's not

[1:33:00] particularly looking few pages deep into our

[1:33:04] website then then we've it appears to be for not but no but

[1:33:10] yes, we'll have to look into how to bring

[1:33:14] bring that up to the to the front of our of our website

[1:33:19] and and that the problem with Council is of course Council can direct staff to do

[1:33:24] things but then we don't always we don't always get back from staff. So we'll

[1:33:27] have to find out that whether it's possible to send that to the realtor

[1:33:32] board. Thank you. Right. Thank you Melinda and so

[1:33:37] we will look into where that went from the suggestions

[1:33:43] that were made by that group to put forward that document out into

[1:33:49] the real estate world and we'll we'll get

[1:33:54] an answer. I think I think our CAO may be able to

[1:34:00] um elaborate on the issue of whether we did uh disseminate that

[1:34:04] that document. The document was created and it has been put on the website. I

[1:34:08] just say that we get phone calls every single day from realtors

[1:34:13] uh on behalf of uh clients uh in in the uh form of a due diligence inquiry uh

[1:34:20] with regard to a property. Um and we try to answer those questions as best we

[1:34:25] can. Uh sometimes we don't get those calls because people think they can

[1:34:30] shortcut that process with a title insurance. That is not a wise thing to

[1:34:35] do. Uh but uh we we do our best to inform

[1:34:39] potential buyers of uh what the um uh the rules of engagement

[1:34:44] are in the town of Mono.

[1:34:47] Sorry, Your Worship. I have my mic on because of feedback.

[1:34:51] It's controlling the feedback a little bit uh but yes, we do push all real

[1:34:54] estate to our website. Um we do have a process now um where everybody can uh

[1:35:01] can uh put in a service request to uh to get on the list of of the many questions

[1:35:06] that we do receive and uh and it seems to be working fine. Um but yes, and we

[1:35:11] do have a lot of counter inquiries as well and those would include uh Mono

[1:35:15] Plus, not so much Mono, but uh yeah, they are out of uh out of boundary uh

[1:35:20] real estate uh properties and uh and we find uh that generally

[1:35:25] uh they're they're getting answers pretty quickly.

[1:35:32] Hello, I'm from South 25 Sideroad. Um

[1:35:36] just a comment before my question. It uh really

[1:35:40] I hopefully there'll be a DEI committee next term as well as a heritage

[1:35:44] committee. I just wanted to maybe uh ask that the heritage committee talk

[1:35:50] to the DEI committee so that the heritage of Aboriginals may be

[1:35:54] considered within the scope of the mandate of the heritage committee. That

[1:36:00] was my one comment. My question is more concerning water. Um

[1:36:07] Is there any policy within Mono to address

[1:36:14] agricultural infiltration or runoff? Um especially people who may

[1:36:21] lease out their land to farmers who then get a tax break for doing that.

[1:36:27] Maybe a farmer might I would say exploit the land for their own usage and

[1:36:34] revenue. And then

[1:36:37] um then there might be this um

[1:36:41] synthetic fertilizer or high tillage rate that would then affect the soil

[1:36:46] that that would then would affect the water.

[1:36:50] So, my question is is there any policy within Mono that addresses that at all?

[1:36:56] Thank you.

[1:36:59] I'm I'm not aware of any policy. I mean

[1:37:03] and I know of one situation now where I'm pretty sure a particular farmer

[1:37:08] has a manure storage site that's too close to a stream

[1:37:11] that's causing problems downstream, but I know of no

[1:37:14] power that the town has and I'm not aware of any town that the

[1:37:18] conservation authority has to do anything about it. We can say

[1:37:23] tisk tisk that you shouldn't do that, but I I'm not aware of any policy

[1:37:28] or regulatory powers that exist if a farmer wants to till too close to a

[1:37:33] stream or till too much or use too much fertilizer or spread septic on a on a

[1:37:38] it's it's it's it can be a problem. I I agree.

[1:37:44] Well can I ask you Yeah, just

[1:37:48] What about the drainage superintendent?

[1:37:51] So, drainage superintendent would only be called in as far as I know where we

[1:37:56] have a municipal drain and we've only got

[1:38:00] three or four municipal drains in the town of Mono. One of them

[1:38:05] by the way is Yeah, it's going to be cleaned out. I don't know if the

[1:38:09] drainage superintendent has the power to tell a farmer to

[1:38:13] uh to keep you know, x number of meters away from the municipal drain. You You

[1:38:19] probably know more about that than I do, but uh

[1:38:22] I mean conservation authorities have the power

[1:38:26] to limit development within 30 m of a provincially significant

[1:38:31] wetland. So, if it's a provincially significant wetland, but that's only

[1:38:35] development. That's not stopping a farmer from from plowing right up to the

[1:38:38] edge of the stream or quite frankly right into the stream. I Andrew, you may

[1:38:42] know more about this than I do.

[1:38:46] No, but I don't want to open the time. Sorry.

[1:38:50] Um I think it's a large subject. Um there are regional

[1:38:57] individual superintendents and there are um

[1:39:01] collections of the drainage superintendents of Ontario that do

[1:39:05] proactive programming on keeping fencing the cattle out of the streams, uh having

[1:39:10] a buffer to the stream, um and that water's got to go somewhere and

[1:39:15] eventually it might end up in something that's part of their mandate with

[1:39:19] respect to washing out a culvert under a main tra- uh artery. So, there are

[1:39:24] creative ways that the drainage superintendents might become an ally,

[1:39:28] but it's it's like in Simcoe County, they're very proactive. Uh Holland

[1:39:32] Marsh, they're very proactive, but I think it's very regional. It's It's just

[1:39:37] It's an asset that you might want to make an inquiry about.

[1:39:41] Thank you. I If I can, uh my family has been leasing land for farming for over

[1:39:47] 70 years now. And we are very careful and I know

[1:39:51] others are very careful to specify what can and cannot be done on that land. We

[1:39:57] for instance have said we don't want soybeans.

[1:40:01] Winter wheat's great, oats are great. But we have some control over what kind

[1:40:07] of farming goes on on that 20-acre parcel.

[1:40:12] And I would encourage landowners to to do the same thing. They don't always.

[1:40:17] Very frequently they just have a an agreement that their laneway

[1:40:22] gets plowed out frequently and then return for that the

[1:40:26] farmer can do anything they want. I think those days should be over.

[1:40:32] I think the OFA also has programs. The Ontario Farming Association cuz I

[1:40:39] know I have one of those signs on my property because we were careful about

[1:40:45] riparian setback around the the creek and the

[1:40:49] manure pile being set back away from running into the creek.

[1:40:54] And so most

[1:40:58] farmers, good farmers will have an OFA certificate and by doing that there's

[1:41:05] programs that are run through different agencies to educate people on what goes

[1:41:11] on to those lands. But we do all know that

[1:41:15] mass production and massive yield are the priority to

[1:41:20] make massive money and that impacts the bee

[1:41:25] population and then that impacts us and there's a

[1:41:28] statistic that I don't have off the top of my head, but after all the bees are

[1:41:33] dead within about 7 days the planet will be

[1:41:37] gone. Like it's it's really like

[1:41:41] crazy this number, but we do need to take care of those things, so.

[1:41:49] I think it's provincial jurisdiction, not municipal, but I will I'll look it

[1:41:54] pretty sure, but I'll look it up and get back to you.

[1:42:01] Go ahead. Hi, I'm Karen. Um

[1:42:05] Municipal drains are an interesting thing

[1:42:08] because some they're not all equal, and so I do wonder if they're even needed if

[1:42:13] we allow significant riparian and buffer zones

[1:42:19] around where water drains to happen naturally

[1:42:23] instead of channeling it cleaning it out with

[1:42:28] big equipment that goes in and rips out everything. It's it's not selective.

[1:42:32] It's not fine surgery where they just go in and just do the drain, but they need

[1:42:37] zones on either side to actually clean the drains, so

[1:42:41] you know, I like Andrew's thing about, you know, land use, focusing on water

[1:42:46] first because maybe the education then can be the importance of these zones

[1:42:52] to prevent um having these drains

[1:42:57] you know, maybe we need some, do we need all of them?

[1:43:00] » [clears throat] >> The cost of cleaning out a drain, the

[1:43:03] cost to the to the climate the cost of uh losing trees and natural

[1:43:08] vegetation like dogwood and willow that's a huge cost because, you know,

[1:43:13] you talk about bees um it's uh land should not be a

[1:43:17] commodity. It should be a community. So.

[1:43:22] Thank you. >> [applause]

[1:43:28] » Uh I just I wanted to uh add a comment to your question. It's a good question

[1:43:33] with uh agricultural chemicals and fertilizers, etc.

[1:43:38] Uh a couple of months ago I attended the

[1:43:42] uh Horning's Mills Community Hall. There

[1:43:45] was a presentation by Gary Hunter, who is the hydrogeologist that did the study

[1:43:50] for the Strata Quarry, proposed Strata Blast Quarry, etc. And

[1:43:56] although the the uh

[1:43:59] initiative of that meeting was to discuss aggregates and and uh the the

[1:44:04] figures were there for silica and other uh chemicals or possible

[1:44:10] contaminants that could come up from blasting,

[1:44:13] what also was included was the aggregate or pardon me, the agricultural

[1:44:19] input into the Pine River and the Boyne River. And what to look at those

[1:44:24] figures, it's an eye-opener.

[1:44:27] And you think, that's a big problem. And that's definitely a definitely a

[1:44:30] discussion for another day because it is a it's a big issue that's not being

[1:44:34] addressed and uh it does need to be.

[1:44:38] Can you can you clarify a little bit more on that? You mean that it was

[1:44:42] brought up that not only as we as a as a quarry, we're not going to do as much

[1:44:45] damage as the agriculture? Like how did how did they get how how did the two If

[1:44:50] you were there to hear about the the Why is it doing it?

[1:44:55] Um could you just clarify a little bit more

[1:44:57] for me? Okay. Um the the report that he was doing

[1:45:03] » [snorts] >> had everything to do with with the uh

[1:45:05] with the aggregate pit being converted to a quarry. So, his the

[1:45:10] uh the statistics that he had presented were uh aggregate related, but also in

[1:45:16] those water tests were also included, you know, what what

[1:45:21] other components there were. And the agricultural chemicals and fertilizers

[1:45:26] were included there. So, it was just happened to see it and everybody went,

[1:45:31] "Wow, that's that's a huge huge problem."

[1:45:38] Near the questions.

[1:45:45] Not yet. Dale hasn't spoken.

[1:45:50] Dalton Hardy, a Mono resident.

[1:45:54] We have started a new uh recycle program.

[1:46:01] How is that going? One of the thing that uh

[1:46:06] hit me is that now we can recycle plastic bags.

[1:46:11] Are we going to recede the bylaw that we have in the town of Mono?

[1:46:14] Or we don't need that anymore because they're recyclable?

[1:46:18] You mean where we can have plastic bags again cuz they're recyclable? Yes. Yes.

[1:46:23] For the groceries. There's no plans to recede that.

[1:46:28] But but to be honest, Dale, it I don't think there's ever been a case

[1:46:32] of that bylaw being enforced because it we we would rely on someone coming to us

[1:46:36] to report it and I don't think there's ever been a report of

[1:46:42] If I'm saying there's as far as I know there's no plans to recede the bylaw

[1:46:46] that we have on the books that says in the retail business you can't use

[1:46:50] plastic bags. Do we get any feedback from the how the

[1:46:55] No, just we we

[1:46:58] Dale Dale, if I can um just on the recycling bins.

[1:47:03] Uh this is an initiative of the Ontario government in conjunction with their

[1:47:08] uh their um provider of service which is called uh

[1:47:13] uh circular materials. Uh I call them circular arguments.

[1:47:18] And uh it is delivered to us by our um county uh, contractor, which is Green

[1:47:24] for Life. I've got a lot of calls. We've all got a lot of calls about the size of

[1:47:29] these bins. >> [laughter]

[1:47:30] » Uh, the mayor of Orangevale and myself, uh,

[1:47:33] joined forces to push back, and we were successful in two regards. Number one,

[1:47:38] the start date was going to be January 1st, which of course is is absurd.

[1:47:43] Uh, and we got that pushed back, but we also

[1:47:46] got the option of a smaller bin. It's not that much smaller, but it's better

[1:47:51] than the really big bins. And we're still getting complaints about bins

[1:47:55] blowing over, and that that's not even getting into the issue of the

[1:47:59] unsightliness of those bins at the end of people's driveways.

[1:48:05] Oh, I was just going to make, sorry, I was just going to make one more comment

[1:48:07] on, but they're here to stay. They're here to stay, and so we need to only put

[1:48:12] them out. I think that blowing over thing, I was it it was remarkable the

[1:48:15] number of large bins that had been blown over, cuz I think they've only got three

[1:48:19] or four little cans in the bottom of them, right? I think that we need to

[1:48:22] wait to put our put them out until they're heavy enough, because they

[1:48:26] themselves are are, um, get airborne easily.

[1:48:30] Hi. I'm Melissa Hayward. I'm a resident of

[1:48:34] Mono. Um, I think we

[1:48:37] we all have opinions on the size of the bins, and it's lovely that we can

[1:48:42] supposedly put more things in them. My question is, how much of it how much

[1:48:48] of it actually does get recycled, which may be beyond the scope of this meeting,

[1:48:54] but I've spoken to a number of people who are in the industry,

[1:49:00] um, and I think this is an issue that goes way beyond us. So, no, I don't

[1:49:05] think we should >> [clears throat]

[1:49:05] » bring back plastic bags. It's that I think a lot of it is being used

[1:49:11] by the plastics industry to convince us to use more plastic, cuz the production

[1:49:17] of plastic has exploded in the last decade.

[1:49:21] I mean, I know very much um

[1:49:24] that it's really being recycled. So, that I mean, it's not perhaps this

[1:49:29] isn't really a question, but maybe just something that we all need to think

[1:49:34] about and maybe not get caught up in the excitement [cough] that oh my gosh, I've

[1:49:40] got this great big bin and I can put even more things in it than I could

[1:49:43] before. They're not really getting diverted. And

[1:49:47] these are excellent. Can I make a comment? They're Those are excellent

[1:49:50] comments and and um I personally only ever put out my little recycling bin

[1:49:55] every 3 weeks or 4 weeks. Like, I don't I don't generate that much. So, I'm

[1:49:58] certainly not going to put the big thing out very very often. And you know,

[1:50:02] everybody's having to tuck the real We're having to figure out how do we

[1:50:05] tuck it so away so that we can't see it. And of course, in in our urban settings,

[1:50:09] it's like they're here and this is the way it's going to be cuz you there's no

[1:50:12] re Put the recycle bin in your garage or

[1:50:15] put the car in the garage. Which which are you going to do, right?

[1:50:19] So, that and that and I think what's going to come eventually will also be

[1:50:23] the big bin for garbage because if the truck already has the ability to pick

[1:50:27] up, then you know, to to send out for the garbage to have two men doing it.

[1:50:31] It's it's wasteful, right? But you're absolutely right. This was brought about

[1:50:35] by the plastics companies because that's the whole point of the government

[1:50:39] saying, "Well, we'll put it on to the producers."

[1:50:42] But it but still, one day, even if there is still stuff cuz I think it's bigger

[1:50:47] than it was before. That was the catch thing. As Dells told us about the

[1:50:50] plastic bags, there's a few other things too that were okay, great. I can put

[1:50:53] them in. They may not be recycled now. They may

[1:50:57] We know that. We've seen behind the the CBC Marketplace behind the curtain

[1:51:01] there, right? We've seen [clears throat] that. But the at least it's separated

[1:51:05] from garbage so that when it it's going to wherever and that if it one day you

[1:51:11] would does spend the money on having the

[1:51:13] ability to process this plastic now and cuz it's the sorting of it apparently is

[1:51:18] the difference, right? That of the plastic. That I don't think it's that

[1:51:22] bad of an idea to continue to to recycle cuz I almost want to with your comment I

[1:51:28] almost want to say yeah, you're right. Just let's put it all in the garbage.

[1:51:30] And I don't Yeah, I think Well, right. Yes.

[1:51:42] Yeah, that's a good idea. Just in response, I I just wanted to add

[1:51:47] a little anecdote to this. I totally agree with you.

[1:51:50] I I'm probably a bit older than you are and I grew up in the Fraser Valley in

[1:51:54] British Columbia back in the late 1940s and early 50s. We didn't have garbage

[1:51:58] pickup. We had a 45-gallon drum out the back.

[1:52:02] And when we finished because our food came the the butcher was wrapped in

[1:52:06] paper. Our our produce came in a paper bag. We didn't have any plastic at all.

[1:52:11] Milk came in a in a glass bottle. We did have tin cans and as as kids when the my

[1:52:18] father had lit the fire after the fire, we got to pick a few tin

[1:52:22] cans out of the 45-gallon drum. But we handled all our garbage on site just by

[1:52:27] basically by burning it and it was basically some paper and maybe

[1:52:30] occasionally at Christmas a wooden box of oranges from Japan. We could burn the

[1:52:35] wood in there, too. But we didn't have plastic.

[1:52:40] Burning wasn't the answer though, really.

[1:52:42] » Right. No, yeah, [clears throat] that's not good for the atmosphere, but that's

[1:52:44] okay. But I love your term greenwashing. I like that. Um I don't know how many of

[1:52:50] you subscribe to Environmental Defense, but their most recent newsletter is

[1:52:55] about plastic. And MC Squared has done in the past a few years ago a whole

[1:53:01] session on plastic to educate people about how many

[1:53:06] balls of plastic they've gotten floating around in their bodies because it

[1:53:09] they're ingesting it through everything. Um and um there are islands

[1:53:16] massive islands of plastic in our oceans >> [snorts]

[1:53:21] » killing our fish going into the fish so that we eat it.

[1:53:26] So, it it's a huge issue. So, where is it being recycled and what's happening

[1:53:31] in with it? I don't know. Has anybody seen the movie Wall-E?

[1:53:37] Oh, yeah. We'll be shipping it into space and plugging up the atmosphere up

[1:53:41] there with this stuff, too. Anyway. Yeah, I know. It's so it's it's a

[1:53:47] it's a lesson for us to use less if we can.

[1:53:55] Just Just one quick comment to add. Uh yeah, I think it's obvious to

[1:54:00] everybody that just cuz you put it in a recycling bin it doesn't necessarily get

[1:54:03] recycled. Um there are I mean, there's a plant in Niagara

[1:54:08] Falls, New York that Canada was shipping plastics to because they couldn't

[1:54:11] incinerate it for power. So, that's one way of getting rid of it. We've had

[1:54:14] containers of plastic show up in foreign country in other countries.

[1:54:18] Uh that's embarrassing as nationally, I think. Um

[1:54:21] but I do I do support the new program because it puts a cost to the producers

[1:54:26] of those and I think the hope is that it leads to a reduction in the production

[1:54:31] of them if it becomes more costly and less That That may be naive on my part,

[1:54:36] but I hope. [laughter] But I haven't heard anything about any new recycling

[1:54:40] initiatives to actually use the plastic bags that we put in our blue bin. And I

[1:54:43] just wondered if anybody else had.

[1:54:49] Only seeing the list of the new things that you get to put in it, right? Which

[1:54:52] is the assumption. But you know that the increased cost to the producer really

[1:54:56] just means increased cost to the consumer, right? Like

[1:55:00] » raspberries for seven bucks? >> [laughter]

[1:55:02] » Uh just a quick one. Being a person who suffers from significant paranoia,

[1:55:08] I uh I'm assuming that the big bins are

[1:55:13] moving towards bi-weekly or bi-monthly or once a month

[1:55:18] pickups. The other That's So that's the

[1:55:22] the question I had. When I saw the propaganda come out at the beginning,

[1:55:26] one of the things that struck me is my 93-year-old

[1:55:30] neighbor who lives on a half-mile long driveway.

[1:55:35] And she could live in that thing instead of having to wheel it down to the

[1:55:40] And And so I I was They did say that if you had that problem, they would send

[1:55:46] someone to pick it up at your house, which I assumed was a lie, which is

[1:55:51] again my paranoia slipping out. But I was just wondering if anyone had heard

[1:55:56] about that because what these people are doing or what I'm

[1:56:00] doing, and I'm not 93, fortunately. We'll never make it. But anyway,

[1:56:04] it it lives down at the end of my driveway.

[1:56:07] And I have a nice little place to tuck it in so people going over 60 on my road

[1:56:11] won't notice it. The people going the speed limit will say, "Oh, Don's got it

[1:56:15] out." I went down Main Street, Shelburne, the other day on garbage day.

[1:56:20] And it reminded me of Toronto. The only difference is my kids in Toronto have

[1:56:25] four of these. In In Shelburne, they only have one.

[1:56:29] But give us time. But this is my I think you're you're all nodding.

[1:56:33] To think that that Green for Life truck would go up my driveway to pick up my

[1:56:38] bin is beyond credibility, which was a lot of the other stuff I saw as well. So

[1:56:44] paranoia lives. I'm glad to hear that it's shared, and I'll pass this back.

[1:56:49] And that's that's a good point. But But they they have politely offered that you

[1:56:54] can keep it at the end of your driveway and then we'll be driving around here

[1:56:59] and before no time there'll be more blue boxes than trees.

[1:57:05] If Yeah. If if I can, I think it's an

[1:57:09] apocryphal tale that they'll drive up your driveway. I've heard that by the

[1:57:14] way. You're absolutely right. And and that that may have been an

[1:57:18] accommodation under the old system that was presumed to continue under the

[1:57:23] new system. Um as far as I know the frequency of pickup remains the same in

[1:57:29] Dufferin. It has not in other jurisdictions such

[1:57:32] as Simcoe County where they've gone back to the bi-weekly

[1:57:37] as opposed to weekly. But you know as far as far as we're

[1:57:42] concerned it's probably going to go out once every 3 weeks.

[1:57:46] And [snorts] heavy enough that it won't blow over.

[1:57:54] Canute, the last comment.

[1:57:58] Well, I I I think personally that that as long as

[1:58:02] countries are willing to start wars to maintain the oil industry, I think we

[1:58:06] are dreaming for the short term. In the meantime, paranoia continues.

[1:58:18] Well, I think we're coming to a natural conclusion. I first wanted to thank

[1:58:23] everyone for coming out and participating and asking some some good

[1:58:27] questions. I thought we had some wonderful dialogue. I want to thank the

[1:58:30] members of council for coming up here and I wanted to thank staff for taking

[1:58:36] time out of their weekend to be here. I have one last comment that our special

[1:58:41] speaker would like to make.

[1:58:44] Thank you. I just wanted to thank everybody here. I attend a lot of

[1:58:50] council meetings. The ones in Caledon go to 1:00 a.m., but I leave at 9:30. Um

[1:58:57] I've never seen this kind of a respectful dialogue. Uh normally people

[1:59:03] are angry as bees nest cuz something hasn't been done. And I just want to

[1:59:08] congratulate you all for the community relations that you have. It's really

[1:59:12] extraordinary. THANK YOU VERY MUCH. >> [applause]

[1:59:25] » AND JUST JUST ON BEHALF OF COUNCIL, I'D like to thank everyone who who came out

[1:59:29] on a Saturday morning. Uh we we love these town hall meetings,

[1:59:34] and this will not be the last one that we hold. Thank you very much.

[1:59:40] » [applause]

TOWN HALL MEETING | April 18, 2026

Transcript