In support of our Neighbour and Partner, CORE
we are pleased to present.......

Full details.

Public Meeting Announcement 

July 28, 2016 at 7:00 PM
Horning's Mills Community Centre, 14 Mill St., Horning's Mills

We are at a critical juncture in land planning. Policy change and advocacy does not have many thrilling moments, and there are precious few opportunities to impact policy. When one comes along we need to seize it.

The Co-ordinated Land Use Planning Review draft is now available for public comment. It is the result of thousands of submissions and many public meetings. This is a rare watershed moment and our time to speak with a united voice. This policy will have implications on the Mega Quarry lands, prime farmland and watersheds across this province. In other words it will affect all of us in Ontario.

Since the Highlands Company withdrew its application, there have been few asks or calls to action, yet NDACT has remained vigilant towards permanent protection of prime food producing land. Through our campaign of Food&WaterFirst we have kept you informed on the issues and the movement of the Provincial Policy statement, the Aggregate Resources Act (public input complete, awaiting a draft) and now the Co-ordinated Review. Once these pieces of policy become legislation they will likely be closed for years.

The Co-ordinated Review draft needs explanation for most of us. What exactly does it mean and what are the implications?

To help us understand what it means and what our comments should be, NDACT is hosting a Public Meeting on July 28 with Victor Doyle and Janet Horner.

Victor is the Manager of the Coordinated Review process and will give us an overview of the proposed changes.

Janet Horner is a Mulmur councilor, the Dufferin representative on the NEC, and the Executive Director of the Golden Horseshoe Food and Farming Alliance. Janet will articulate further what the draft means for Dufferin.

For our local supporters and residents, Tom Eisenhauer of Bonnefield Financial will also be with us to give an update of how land ownership is doing under their investment model, and will highlight this as a viable option to keep farmland for farming.

All of this will help to inform NDACT on our submission to the review and what we will encourage partners and supporters of NDACT to submit. We hope that you as our neighbours, friends and partner organizations will join us to be informed together.

Sincerely,

Shirley Boxem
NDACT Chair

Food & Water First will be there!

Join in the festival.

Date: Saturday, August 29, 2015

Time: 11:00 AM - 12:00 midnight

Location: Christie Lake, Dundas Ontario

Purpose: raise awareness of the importance or the Greenbelt harvest, local farmers, art, the outdoors and the eat-local movement

Full details and tickets.

An outdoor concert featuring Arkells, Gordon Lightfoot, Iron and Wine and many more.

There is also a line-up of artists, farmers, food vendors, organizations and seminars.

Time: Parade begins at 1:00 PM

Parade route.

Join in on the fun! We'll be there!

Festival details.

42nd Annual Alliston Potato Festival Parade

Date: Friday Aug. 7, 2015

Time: Parade begins at 7 PM

Route: start from Banting Memorial High School and proceed along Victoria Street

Watch for our Food & Water First float!

Festival details.

Conserve Our Rural Environment (CORE)

Presents:

Concert at Lyric Pond

In support of challenging inappropriate land use in Mulmur and Melancthon

When: July 31, 2015

Click on image for enlargement and details.

Join Jim Cuddy and Friends

Begins at 6 PM - Lyric Pond, Mulmur

Hosts: Melody & Bill Duron

Tickets and full details.

Date: Thurs. July 10, 2014

Time: 6:00 PM

Location: Orangeville Agricultural Centre,
247090 - 5 Side Road, Mono, ON L9W 6K5

The Dufferin Official Plan will be prsented at this meeting.

The public is welcome to observe.

View agenda.

http://www.dufferincounty.ca/planning/

Date: August 28, 2014

Time: 7:00 PM

Location: Dufferin County Office, 55 Zina St., Orangeville, ON

Special meeting of Dufferin County Council to consider the adoption of the Official Plan.

Public welcome to observe.

http://www.dufferincounty.ca/

Date: August 13, 2014

Time: 7:00 PM

Location: Dufferin County Office, 55 Zina St., Orangeville, ON

Download notice.

Public can make delegations and submit comments.

In order to have a party standing at the OMB, the public must speak at this meeting or provide written comments at this meeting.

http://www.dufferincounty.ca/

By the end of this week, five Ontario ridings will have chosen five new MPPs to sit in the Ontario legislature.

These byelections offer voters an excellent opportunity to speak up and that's what we're asking you to do via e-mail by Thursday!

It may be the dog days of summer, but please take a few moments to contact the candidates and ask them to support the protection of prime farmland and source water regions. Food & Water First!

Below is a suggested letter to be sent to the various candidates.

E-mail addresses are provided and can be copied into a single e-mail to be sent to all the candidates OR you can select individual candidates to contact. To the keyboards!

Scarborough-Guildwood

Liberal - Mitzie Hunter mitzie@votehunter.ca

PC - Ken Kirupa ken@kenkirupa.ca

NDP - Adam Giambrone adamgiambrone@ontariondp.ca

Green - Nick Leeson nickleeson@gpo.ca

Etobicoke-Lakeshore

Liberal - Peter Milczyn peter@votepetermilczyn.ca

PC - Doug Holyday info@dougholyday.ca

NDP - PC Choo pcchoo@ontariondp.ca

Green - Angela Salewsky angelasalewsky@gpo.ca

Ottawa-South

Liberal - John Fraser info@votejohnfraser.ca

PC - Matt Young info@mattyoungpc.ca

NDP - Bronwyn Funiciello bronwynfuniciello@ontariondp.ca

Green - Taylor Howarth taylorhowarth@gpo.ca

London-West

Liberal - Ken Coran ken@votekencoran.ca

PC - Ali Chahbar info@alichahbar.ca

NDP - Peggy Sattler peggysattler@ontariondp.ca

Green - Gary Brown garybrown@gpo.ca

Windsor-Tecumseh

Liberal - Jeewen Gill jeewen@jeewengill.ca

PC - Robert deVerteuil http://windsortecumseh.ontariopc.com/Contact

NDP - Percy Hatfield percyhatfield@ontariondp.ca

Green - Adam Wright adamwright@gpo.ca

Suggested letter: Please feel free to add your own thoughts/anecdotes/expertise!

To the candidates in the provincial byelections,

On August 1st, you may be elected to the Ontario legislature and, if so, you will represent the hopes and concerns of your constituents. I'm writing to ask you to give your support to an issue that is of growing importance to Ontarians: protection of this province's prime farmland and source water regions.

As you're aware, a grassroots movement consisting of tens of thousands of citizens helped stop the proposed Highland mega quarry just 90 minutes northwest of Toronto. The mega quarry would have destroyed thousands of acres of Class 1 farmland and impacted a vital aquifer in north Dufferin County. Two weeks ago, the Highland Companies sold the land to Bonnefield Financial, a Canadian investment firm that purchases farmland and then leases it back to local farmers. This is a positive step in a five-year battle to protect rare farmland and water resources so close to Canada's largest city.

However, Ontario's prime farmland and water resources remain vulnerable to development, aggregate operations and other non-farming operations. As the climate changes and our population grows, the demand for food security will increase. Ontario is home to the best agricultural soil in the country as well as Canada's largest agri-food sector. We must not squander these strategic and perpetual resources. Other jurisdictions in Europe and the U.S. are taking steps to protect their prime farmland for food production. We should be leading the way in Canada. In fact, thousands of Ontarians who fought the mega quarry are now engaged in this effort. The fresh campaign is called Food & Water First.

As a new representative in the legislature, I ask you to encourage your party to demand the preservation of Ontario's prime farmland and source water regions. Our future depends on it.

Sincerely,