While Ontario Premier Doug Ford continues to pave forward on the Greenbelt profile — regardless of a scathing auditor general’s report — the federal government has finalized terms for a study on the Rouge National Urban Park.
Earlier this year, Canada’s minister of environment and climate change, Steven Guilbeault, announced he would be commissioning a report on the potential effects if development happens on the (DRAP) Duffins Rouge Agricultural Preserve. The controversial lands are at the centre of an auditor’s report finding that developers may have had direct influence on the Greenbelt boundary selection process.
The federal study could put a wrench in the plans, though, as the investigation is looking at both DRAP lands which were part of the Greenbelt and the federal airport lands in Pickering. According to Tim Gray with Environmental Defence Canada, this may be the start of change.
“It very much sets up the conditions where the federal government would need to protect their interests if any development application comes forward,” Gray says.
This month the feds released more details on the impact assessment study. The 17-page document says the goal is to “understand the potential effects, including cumulative effects, of past, ongoing, and potential future development on the Rouge National Urban Park.”
The scope will look at the Duffins Rouge Agricultural Preserve, along with the Federal Airport Lands. Earlier this year, the federal transport minister said he was awaiting this investigation before making a decision on whether or not an airport is needed in Pickering.
Parliamentary secretary for the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Julie Dabrusin says the study is the government’s response to a resounding call for action on the threat to the Greenbelt.
“I think it’s really important that we highlight this is the federal government responding to what we are hearing from various environmental groups,” Dabrusin says.
“It will give us a much better view of what does it mean and this gives us the science and data of what we actually know it will be.”
Andrea Kirkwood, a biologist and professor at Ontario Tech University whose purview is looking at how water quality is impacted by development, says if the development goes forward as planned, it’s going to have detrimental effects on aquatic life.
“We know that habitat loss is going to be a huge impact from development activities. We know that water quality will decline,” Kirkwood says.
Earlier this year a study found that several at-risk and endangered species would be impacted, including the snapping turtle, several fish and 49 migratory birds.
“There are very real concerns about how those species that move in and around the park are going to be able to survive outside the park,” Kirkwood says.
The terms of reference say the study will be focusing on lands adjacent to the park and the main objective will be preserving the “ecological integrity of the park and ability to manage the protection of biodiversity, natural resources and natural process.”
The document says the study will also “consider the cumulative effects of other past, ongoing and future physical activities in the Park, the Duffins Rouge Agricultural Preserve, federal lands adjacent to the Park as well as other areas if these have the potential for effects in areas of federal jurisdiction within
the Park.”
Kirkwood says she’s cautiously optimistic this will give environmental groups what they require to prove the critical need for the land.
“The federal government’s committee is going to be able to take all this information and clearly see that there are going to be many negative impacts,” Kirkwood says.
The study will also look at a number of factors, including agriculture, Indigenous rights and even the threat of minister zoning orders.
The hope, Gray with Environmental Defence Canada says, is that if an order is made on the Species at Risk Act or Impact Assessment Act, the lands could be protected.
“Any move to do anything on this property after they are issued would be illegal and they would be subject to prosecution.”
Global News reached out to the Ford government for comment but did not hear back.
The next step will be creating a committee to carry out the study. It could be two years before we know the results.
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