On April 1, 2017 the environment committee of MC² will be sponsoring a free presentation on Lyme Disease.

It will be held at Monora Park Pavilion in the Banquet Hall.

  Doors open at 9 AM
 Presentations: 9:30 AM - Noon  

There will be displays, handouts (on identification, removal of ticks, the course of Lyme disease etc.) and free refreshments.

This is an important issue that concerns all of us.  As the climate continues to change, the number of infected ticks is increasing in Ontario and our region.  The consequences of undiagnosed Lyme disease can be disabling for decades and at times can result in an early death.

Full details.

Wellington Water Watchers and Riverfest Elora

Present....

You are invited to Waterstock at the Erin Fall Fairgrounds, to join together as a community and ask Premier Kathleen Wynne to Say No to Nestlé.

Waterstock plans take shape as Ontario clamps down on water bottlers

Fundraiser and Announce Party

Date: April 5, 2107

Time: 7 - 9 PM

Where: Gladstone Hotel, 1214 Queen St. W., Toronto

Join them at the Gladstone Hotel  to support Wellington Water Watchers "Say No to Nestlé campaign and for the Toronto launch and official announcement of Waterstock - Water For Life, Not Profit - a joint presentation with Riverfest Elora! 

With special performances by Caroline Brooks of the Good Lovelies with Ben Whiteley, and Molly Johnson. As well as a special reading from the play "Devine".

Admission $20. 7-9pm (Doors open 6:30). Cash bar. Snacks provided.

Details.

We are pleased to welcome....

Alia Jalbert as our new Chair.

Alia, a former NDACT Board Member, has replaced former Chair, Shirley Boxem. Shirley will remain as a regular Board Member.

Congratulations to all! 

Date: Friday, April 8, 2016
Time: 10 AM - 6 PM
Place: Bingemans Conference Centre, Kitchener
Cost: $110 early-bird rate by March 25th;
$90 for OFA,CFFO,NFU members; $60 students
includes lunch

Full details.

To reserve your seat go to: www.ontariofarmlandtrust.ca

or call 519-824-4120 ext. 52654 or email info@ontariofarmlandtrust.ca

Our friends at Ecologos have organized another great Water Docs Film Festival starting tonight Friday March 20!

The festival runs for a week and features extraordinary documentaries about water, the threats to it and those trying to protect it. 

This Sunday is World Water Day and Water Docs is airing "Oil & Water." Check out the powerful trailer: Oil & Water

For more information, tickets & trailers visit: Ecologos: Water Docs

The H2O GO Festival and Eco-Market is presented in support of Canada Water Week (March 16-22). Canada Water eek’s 2015 theme is Watersheds 101.  

We will be partcipating in the EcoMarket, which is part of part of this festival.

An event celebrating water! This free, family-friendly event includes engaging, hands-on children’s activities, interactive displays, a variety of water–related information booths, and thought–sharing through art and science for people of all ages.

The Eco-market will display exhibitors offering energy and conservation tips, local food solutions, sustainable building, green transportation, technologies, ethical clothing and more.

In a February 2013 Call to Action, we asked supporters to contact their MPP’s to press them for a Food and Water First Policy.   Supporters were also asked to request that the government to reconstitute the Standing Committee on General Government as soon as possible so the review of the ARA will proceed as well as asking the government to ensure the updated PPS reflects the concerns raised by agricultural stakeholders and the general public.

The Ministry of the Environment replied and included this comment:

"I understand that the Standing Committee on General Government has been re-established, although at this time it is not known whether the Standing Committee will resume its review of the Aggregate Resources Act." 

News that the Standing Committee has been reconstituted is a surprise, as is the statement that it's not known whether the Committee will resume the review of the ARA. It was because of the mega quarry fight that the ARA review was launched. We asked for an open and comprehensive study of the outdated legislation, and the government ordered the review in the fall of 2011. Hearings were held last spring and strong presentations were made by agricultural groups and farmers who argued that prime farmland and source water regions should be exempted from aggregate operations. It would be unacceptable if the review of the ARA were shelved.

We are contacting the Natural Resources Minister, David Orazietti, for clarification. Stay tuned!

Fitting with our Food and Water First Campaign.

Water Docs is a documentary film festival about all things water.

From March 21-24, 2013 at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto, it’s your chance to see both feature and short films about water, and discuss the films with the director or others. Not only does the festival inform and educate about water and water issues, it provides a forum for discussions as well as a channel for action provided by our guest speakers and featured environmental organisations. So, for the love of water, come join us!

For full details, click here.

                                   (MC)² - Mono Mulmur Citizens' Coalition - TOWNHALL MEETING

Date: March 9, 2013

Time: 10 AM - Noon (Coffee at 9:30 AM)

Location: Meeting Hall, across from the Globe Restaurant on Highway 89, Rosemont (map of Rosemont)

 This session will provide members, and all other interested citizens, an update on three key issues impacting our community.

• Melancthon Quarry: Presented by Carl Cosack, President of NDACT.

With the Highland Company application to open a mega-quarry having been withdrawn, what are the next steps; and particularly, what needs to happen with the Aggregates Act to prevent future repeats of what happened in Melancthon?

• Airport Road Quarry Proposal: Presented by Cheryl Russel from CORE.

 Arbour Farms has submitted their proposal to open a quarry on Airport Road in Mulmur. This review will look at the many issues CORE, and others, have raised in its opposition to this proposal, and will address what citizens can do about it.

• New Dufferin County Waste Disposal System. Presented by Ed Kroeker, Environmental Engineer and member of the County Committee overseeing the new system. Ed has detailed information about the problems with a system which has resulted in higher costs and taxes for Mono and Mulmur, and lower costs/taxes for Orangeville and Shelburne. How have our Townships subsidized tax reductions for the large communities of Dufferin, and why did that happen?

The meeting will include plenty of time for questions and answers about each of these issues.

                     ALL ARE WELCOME. BRING YOUR FRIENDS AND NEIGHBOURS!

If you need more information, email: info@monomulmur.com

Habitat Protection and the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act

Harper Government to Eliminate Habitat Protection Provisions in the Canada Fisheries Act.

To date the Harper government has shown little regard for the protection of the environment and over the past few years has supervised the almost total elimination of enforcement of the habitat protection and the pollution provisions of the Canada Fisheries Act (Sections 35 and 36 respectively).

During the Cohen Inquiry in 2011 data was presented to show that pollution and habitat violation investigations have been greatly reduced and convictions of violations in BC and indeed throughout Canada is now almost non-existent.

The Fisheries Act of Canada was put in place in 1868 and is one of the oldest and most tested pieces of environmental legislation in the world. In 1975 many people worked hard to get a proper section added to the Act to protect fish habitat in Canada.

Section 35 (habitat protection) was passed by Parliament in 1976 and has been extensively used across Canada over the past 36 years. In B.C., the Federal and BC governments largely quit enforcing the pollution and habitat sections of the Act in favor of allowing industry to self govern their own environmental project’s ‘needs’ and monitor their own self compliance. This has proven to be a disaster wherever it has been attempted elsewhere in the World.

Click here to view the Important Form Letter Against Dismantling of The CEAA.

“Mega Quarry Posters” by 1st Year OCADU Graphic Design Students

Opening Reception Wednesday March 28, 2012

Opening Reception Time: 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM

Series of Posters on display from March 26 - April 2

Location: The Learning Zone - OCAD University, 122 St. Patrick St., Level 1, Toronto

Wed. Mar. 28: "Artists Against the MegaQuarry" awarded prizes for the top three poster designs, as well as for honourable mentions.

Township of Melancthon, Official Plan Review

NDACT  - Call to Action 

Melancthon taxpayers

Call to Action  - We need your help and participation with the Review of the Melancthon Official Plan.  Please support us and consider your future

The proposed new Township of Melancthon Official Plan has been prepared and you have until March 29th to submit written comments to affect change.  Even if you cannot make a submission by this date please let the Township know what you think as soon as you can.

Weekly Call to Action – March 19, 2012

Welcome to our Weekly Call to Action. 

Our goals for this focused action campaign are:

1. To attract attention through quantity as well as content
2. To keep the proposed mega quarry on the “front burner”
3. To keep the quarry licence application process open and transparent by interacting with various levels of government on an ongoing basis.

If you have any suggestions or questions regarding the strategy of this campaign, contact NoMegaQuarry@xplornet.ca.

ACTION:  Contact the Prime Minister, the Minister of Natural Resources, the Minister of the Environment and your MP and demand that Canada  strengthen environmental law rather than weaken it.

The Canadian Environmental Assessment Act (CEAA) is one of the most important pieces of environmental legislation in Canada

.  Today it is under attack by corporate lobbyists and the federal government who want to "streamline" regulations to better facilitate business opportunities.   

“The Conservative government is systematically dismantling environmental protection and regulation,” said NDP fisheries critic Fin Donnelly. “By eliminating provisions to protect fish habitat, they can push through their agenda of pipelines, oil super tankers, mega mines and other projects that harm the environment.”

Template e-mail

Responses received to date:

Elizabeth May, NDP

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When Will the Review of the Provincial Aggregate Resources Act Begin?

It has been six months since the Ontario Government committed to undertake a serious review of the Provincial Aggregate Resources Act.  This promise was greeted enthusiastically by Ontarians who recognized some time ago that the Act was severely dated and required a comprehensive overhaul.  For many Ontarians, the Highland Companies application for a 2,300 acre below-the-water table mega quarry on prime agricultural land in the Hills of the Headwaters in Dufferin County readily exposed a variety of very serious flaws in that old legislation.

We call on the Minister to make his intentions known and announce the start of this very important review.

You can reach Ontario Natural Resources Minister Michael Gravelle at: mgravelle.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org or http://www.michaelgravelle.onmpp.ca/Contact.aspx or fax at: 416-325-5316

http://www.ontla.on.ca/web/members/members_detail.do?locale=en&ID=40 full list of contact information

 sample letter in PDF form

sample letter in word format

It is best to write a letter and sign your name, and include your address. Emails to government agencies are not always as effective.

You may also call his constituency office at 1-888-516-5555.

Water Docs. An Ecologos film festival focusing on water issues.

Dates: March 22 - April 22, 2012

Location: Ralph Thornton Centre, 2nd Floor, 765 Queen St. E., Toronto  (2 blocks east of Broadview Avenue at Saulter Street) http://www.ralphthornton.org/

April 5, 2012  “Save Our Water” by Jason van Bruggen. Jason & NDACT Chair, Carl Cosack, were present to discuss the film.

Click on picture for printable poster with details.

Admission to all films is free.