e-3766 Environment
Petition to the House of Commons
Whereas:
The Bradford Bypass is a 16.2 km, 4 lane highway proposed to connect the 400 and the 404 through the Holland Marsh - Lake Simcoe’s headwaters and a provincially significant wetland in the Greenbelt;
The highway will remove significant ecosystems including 9.5 hectares of wetland, 39 hectares of wildlife habitat and 22.1 hectares of high quality woodlands;
There are 11 species at risk along the route and recent Ontario regulations weaken the protections for some species along the route (O. Reg. 830/21);
Ontario Regulation 697/21 exempts this project from the Environmental Assessment Act and therefore no further study will be done on the impacts to and mediation measures for species at risk, Lake Simcoe, climate and public health;
The highway’s EA is from 1997 and predates key provincial acts like Lake Simcoe Protection Act, Greenbelt Act, Clean Water Act and doesn’t consider climate change;
The highway will destroy one of Canada's most significant historical sites, the Lower Landing;
The highway's EA studies demonstrated elevated levels of benzene and groundwater contamination which impacts drinking water;
The highway’s estimated GHG emissions are 84 million kilograms of carbon per year;
7 municipalities and 18,000 people have asked for impact assessments for this highway; and
The Government of Canada recently passed the Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act and made global commitments to reduce GHG emissions.
We, the undersigned, residents of the Province of Ontario, call upon the Minister of Environment and Climate Change to designate the Bradford Bypass project for a full federal impact assessment through the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada.
Whereas:
The Bradford Bypass is a 16.2 km, 4 lane highway proposed to connect the 400 and the 404 through the Holland Marsh - Lake Simcoe’s headwaters and a provincially significant wetland in the Greenbelt;
The highway will remove significant ecosystems including 9.5 hectares of wetland, 39 hectares of wildlife habitat and 22.1 hectares of high quality woodlands;
There are 11 species at risk along the route and recent Ontario regulations weaken the protections for some species along the route (O. Reg. 830/21);
Ontario Regulation 697/21 exempts this project from the Environmental Assessment Act and therefore no further study will be done on the impacts to and mediation measures for species at risk, Lake Simcoe, climate and public health;
The highway’s EA is from 1997 and predates key provincial acts like Lake Simcoe Protection Act, Greenbelt Act, Clean Water Act and doesn’t consider climate change;
The highway will destroy one of Canada's most significant historical sites, the Lower Landing;
The highway's EA studies demonstrated elevated levels of benzene and groundwater contamination which impacts drinking water;
The highway’s estimated GHG emissions are 84 million kilograms of carbon per year;
7 municipalities and 18,000 people have asked for impact assessments for this highway; and
The Government of Canada recently passed the Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act and made global commitments to reduce GHG emissions.
We, the undersigned, residents of the Province of Ontario, call upon the Minister of Environment and Climate Change to designate the Bradford Bypass project for a full federal impact assessment through the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada.