The politics of the
Oak Ridges Moraine
The Oak Ridges Moraine is an ecologically important geological landform in the Mixedwood Plains of south-central Ontario, Canada. The moraine covers a geographic area of between Caledon and Rice Lake, near Peterborough. One of the most signif ...
in southern
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
, Canada, have centred on the question of how to preserve this extensive
natural resource
Natural resources are resources that are drawn from nature and used with few modifications. This includes the sources of valued characteristics such as commercial and industrial use, aesthetic value, scientific interest and cultural value. O ...
that is increasingly threatened by human modification. Although preservation of the moraine was first suggested in the 1940s, and intermittently over the subsequent fifty years, it was not until 1991 that the issue achieved prominence in political discourse. For the ensuing decade, use of the moraine was hotly contested between the interests of local residents, developers and environmentalists.
On December 14, 2001 legislation was enacted, along with a provincial land use plan for the Oak Ridges Moraine. However, it seems clear that regulation, alone, is insufficient to preserving these valuable lands. Implementing the plan has required "political will, an engaged and informed public, and... broad based private and public partnerships." Monitoring of the Moraine project by citizens and environmental organizations, along with credible ecological information are essential to its continued preservation.
Political action
The Oak Ridges Moraine began to come to public awareness in the late 1980s. The establishment, in 1989, of the
Save the Oak Ridges Moraine
Save the Oak Ridges Moraine (STORM) is a coalition of 25 citizen's groups and individuals dedicated to preserving the ecologically sensitive Oak Ridges Moraine in Ontario, Canada. Formed in 1989, its primary goal has been to lobby the Government o ...
(STORM) Coalition
contributed to a growing sense among local residents that action needed to be taken to save the moraine. The Government of Ontario created the ''Oak Ridges Moraine Technical Working Committee'' in June 1991 with the joint membership of the
Ministry of Natural Resources
An environmental ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for the environment and/or natural resources. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of the Environment, ...
, the
Ministry of the Environment and the Ministry of Municipal Affairs.
The STORM Coalition played a significant role in the committee's work. The committee's aim was to create a regional planning strategy to coordinate the activities of various regional and municipal governments with jurisdiction over parts of the moraine. This multi-stakeholder process produced a comprehensive long-term strategy for the Moraine in 1994. However the strategy was subsequently dismissed in favour of local government administration of the affected lands.
This led to intense development on some portions of the moraine. Most of this development was suburban detached single-family dwellings with road networks to accommodate them. In particular,
Vaughan
Vaughan () (2021 population 323,103) is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is located in the Regional Municipality of York, just north of Toronto. Vaughan was the fastest-growing municipality in Canada between 1996 and 2006 with its population increas ...
,
Richmond Hill and
Newmarket experienced significant growth in the 1990s.
In early 1999, the Oak Ridges Moraine became a sensitive political issue; developers targeted Richmond Hill for large
subdivisions
Subdivision may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* Subdivision (metre), in music
* ''Subdivision'' (film), 2009
* "Subdivision", an episode of ''Prison Break'' (season 2)
* ''Subdivisions'' (EP), by Sinch, 2005
* "Subdivisions" (song), by Rush ...
on the moraine, which would house over 100,000 people. Environmental groups began a media campaign to raise public awareness of the moraine, referring to it as the "rain barrel of Ontario".
Public opposition to the developments grew quickly, and the issue was transferred to the
Ontario Municipal Board
The Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) was an independent administrative board, operated as an adjudicative tribunal, in the province of Ontario, Canada. It heard applications and appeals on municipal and planning disputes, as well as other matters sp ...
(OMB) in 2000.
Environmentalists, often critical of the OMB for allegedly fast-tracking developments over the concerns of
municipal government
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...
s, again raised the issue in the media. The dispute remained unresolved until May 2001, when the provincial
Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
government announced a six-month moratorium on moraine development. A panel was formed to create a land-use plan consistent with the current
Smart Growth
Smart growth is an urban planning and transportation theory that concentrates growth in compact walkable urban centers to avoid sprawl. It also advocates compact, transit-oriented, walkable, bicycle-friendly land use, including neighborhood sch ...
policy. The plan was released in October 2001, and was both praised and condemned. It became the basis for the ''
Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Act The Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Act, officially known as the Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Act, 2001, is a conservation plan for land situated on or near the Oak Ridges Moraine in Ontario, Canada. The legislation was enacted by the Government ...
'', dividing the area into four zones of increasingly stringent controls on development. Under the Act, only eight percent of the moraine can be developed, and only in lands designated as "settlement areas".
The Bayview Avenue link
Throughout the process, debate continued about the link of
Bayview Avenue
Bayview Avenue is a major north–south route in the Greater Toronto Area of Ontario. North of Toronto, in York Region, Bayview is designated as York Regional Road 34.
History
Bayview Avenue follows the first concession line, laid east of Yong ...
closing a gap from Stouffville Road, in Richmond Hill, to Bloomington Road in
Aurora
An aurora (plural: auroras or aurorae), also commonly known as the polar lights, is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly seen in high-latitude regions (around the Arctic and Antarctic). Auroras display dynamic patterns of bri ...
. The land on which the link would pass had been clear-cut in 1999, after the Government of Ontario Ministry of Environment approved the link in 1998. The road's construction began in September 2001, though environmental groups had entered into legal procedures to block it. The Ontario Court of Appeals rejected the request; York Region officials agreed to resolve some of the concerns that were raised.
As a result, a bridge was added to the plan, spanning a 70 m section of a dry ravine near Stouffville Road. Moreover, five salamander tunnels were added to the design, and were built in September 2002. The Bayview link was officially opened on November 18, 2002.
North Pickering Land Exchange
During the provincial election of 2003, the
Liberal Party of Ontario
The Ontario Liberal Party (OLP; french: Parti libéral de l'Ontario, PLO) is a political party in the province of Ontario, Canada. The party has been led by interim leader John Fraser (Ontario MPP), John Fraser since August 2022.
The party esp ...
promised to terminate development on the moraine as part of its election campaign. Once elected, the party failed to deliver on that promise, as a development in the northern part of Richmond Hill consisting of over 6600 housing units continued. The government, in its attempt to halt other nearby developments, proposed the ''North Pickering Land Exchange''.
Discussed as early as November 2001, it involved exchanging government-owned public lands in
North Pickering for privately owned lands on the Oak Ridges Moraine in Richmond Hill and
Uxbridge
Uxbridge () is a suburban town in west London and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Hillingdon. Situated west-northwest of Charing Cross, it is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. Uxbrid ...
.
The exchange settled outstanding disputes being considered by the OMB involving moraine lands in Richmond Hill and Uxbridge. Lands acquired by the developers had been previously identified as high-growth urban areas in regional and local Official Plans, often referred to as
Seaton. However, the process by which the exchange was settled angered environmentalists, who considered the lack of transparency in the process a betrayal: ''Josh Matlow, founder of Earthroots, accused the Tories of making a "sleazy, secret, sweetheart deal" with developers.''
Moreover, the swap allowed the development of 600 acres (2.4 km
2) on the moraine; the northern Richmond Hill development ceased operations for several days after the 2003 election, but resumed soon thereafter. The development of ''MacLeod's Landing'', as it is now known, was completed in late 2005. One of the developers, Brookfield Homes, had used the ''Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Plan'' as a marketing device, claiming that "as one of the last approved developments on the Oak Ridges Moraine, rest assured that the preservation of the
natural landscape
A natural landscape is the original landscape that exists before it is acted upon by human culture
Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the kn ...
that surrounds you is forever."
The other developers of the community were Kaitlin Group and Aspen Ridge Homes. The site was desirable for development because of the presence of
Phillips Lake
Phillips may refer to:
Businesses Energy
* Chevron Phillips Chemical, American petrochemical firm jointly owned by Chevron Corporation and Phillips 66.
* ConocoPhillips, American energy company
* Phillips 66, American energy company
* Phil ...
and a dozen other small kettle lakes, regular features throughout the Oak Ridges Moraine.
The Big Pipe
:''See also
King City: The Big Pipe.''
The political struggle regarding the moraine continues. The community of
King City in
King Township has been embroiled in a decade-long argument about replacing septic systems with a sewerage connection to the Durham-York Sewage System. Proponents of the link claim that the septic systems leak, endangering the subterranean aquifers of the moraine. Opponents claim that such a link would enable explosive growth in the small community, which would be detrimental to the preservation of the moraine. Construction of the link began in early 2005, creating the main sewer trunk from King City to
Oak Ridges along King Road, connecting to the existing system near
Yonge Street
Yonge Street (; pronounced "young") is a major arterial route in the Canadian province of Ontario connecting the shores of Lake Ontario in Toronto to Lake Simcoe, a gateway to the Upper Great Lakes.
Once the southernmost leg of provincial Hi ...
.
The connection to King City, despite the appellation ''Big Pipe'', is relatively small compared to the overall system expansion governed by
York Region
The Regional Municipality of York, also called York Region, is a regional municipality in Southern Ontario, Canada, between Lake Simcoe and Toronto. The region was established after the passing of then Bill 102, An Act to Establish The Regional M ...
, which has also been labeled ''The Big Pipe''. The construction of this north–south extension to the system requires daily pumping of 30 million litres of water from subterranean aquifers, over its projected five-year construction schedule (lasting to early 2008). This has upset environmentalists greatly, and disturbed some residents of
Markham Markham may refer to:
It may also refer to brand of of clothing which originates from South Africa which saw it's establishment in 1873.
Biology
* Markham's storm-petrel (''Oceanodroma markhami''), a seabird species found in Chile and Colombia
* ...
who rely on wells as their source of water. These residents were the first to be affected by construction because of their proximity to the initial area of development.
The $800 million project is divided into several phases, creating fourteen new links in the system. The system trunks, consisting of 2.7 metre concrete pipes, will collectively transport 740 million litres of raw sewage daily from York and Durham to treatment facilities in Pickering. On October 2, 2004, the province ordered a full environmental assessment of the ''Southeast Collector'' (in the Rouge Valley) and the ''Upper Leslie Trunk''; a further 44 environmental conditions were placed on four other links in the new system.
When complete, the regional ''Big Pipe'' will extend from the eastern edge of
Lake Simcoe
Lake Simcoe is a lake in southern Ontario, Canada, the fourth-largest lake wholly in the province, after Lake Nipigon, Lac Seul, and Lake Nipissing. At the time of the first European contact in the 17th century the lake was called ''Ouentironk'' ...
in the north, to treatment plants near
Lake Ontario
Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York. The Canada–United States border sp ...
in the south, running along Leslie Street. It will twin with the near-capacity
Yonge Street
Yonge Street (; pronounced "young") is a major arterial route in the Canadian province of Ontario connecting the shores of Lake Ontario in Toronto to Lake Simcoe, a gateway to the Upper Great Lakes.
Once the southernmost leg of provincial Hi ...
trunk, increasing capacity sufficiently to serve the region's growth until 2030. Intended to cover major growth areas in the eastern part of the region, it will connect directly to emerging developments from Markham to Holland Landing. Moreover, new connections to rural communities will be created; King City is connected to the existing system, whereas
Stouffville
Stouffville () is the primary urban area within the town of Whitchurch-Stouffville in York Region, Ontario, Canada. It is situated within the Greater Toronto Area and the inner ring of the Golden Horseshoe. The urban area is centred at the inter ...
will connect to the new pipe.
Construction of the extensions have been contentious. York Region has been accused of failing to conduct a proper environmental assessment for the expansion. Ontario's environmental commissioner
Gord Miller noted such concerns: ''"One of the most significant problems with this project is the lack of a full environmental assessment. Officials never looked at the full picture and the impact it has on the Oak Ridges Moraine and surrounding communities."''
As pumping of the aquifers continued throughout 2002, residents in nearby areas complained about dropping water levels in their wells, as well as dirty water; the range of affected areas increased with the total volume of water pumped from the aquifer, some as far away as 10 km. Environmentalists claim that continued pumping may jeopardize the aquifer system, so much so that it may reverse its flow in some areas. York Region's planners counter that by indicating that all water that is pumped is re-introduced into nearby streams after being warmed (aquifer water from 50 m below ground level is very cold), and will not affect the aquifer system. Unfortunately, there is no scientific evidence for either claim. Environmentalists have observed, though, that water isn't heated evenly, often resulting in the scalding and death of many fish. Also, according to ''
The Globe and Mail
''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...
'', ''"York Region has acknowledged that the first phase of building the 16th Avenue sewer line, finished in 2003, had a negative impact on local watersheds."''
In late October 2005, Toronto City Council voted 34–3 to join an environmental coalition attempting to block the construction of the extension. The city, southern neighbour to York Region, allocated $100,000 to conduct a study of the impact of the system on the city's watersheds, specifically the
Rouge River Valley, and requested the provincial Environment Minister to defer the approval for construction until the study is complete.
[ ]
Lessons learned in watershed preservation
The action to save the moraine yields insights into the state of sustainable land use planning and
smart growth
Smart growth is an urban planning and transportation theory that concentrates growth in compact walkable urban centers to avoid sprawl. It also advocates compact, transit-oriented, walkable, bicycle-friendly land use, including neighborhood sch ...
in watershed protection. In its 2002 case study, th
International Association for Great Lakes Researchnoted that it was “only through citizen initiatives, shaped and focused by environmental groups, that serious debate, and eventual formation of a land use plan, took place."
As the struggle to save the moraine shows, significant political pressure is necessary to overcome the obstacles to controls: municipalities dedicated to encouraging growth and higher level governments reluctant to intervene. The importance of access to good science and policy information is crucial, as is the need for ongoing monitoring and vigilance."
Notes
{{reflist
References
*Revised Statutes of Ontario. 2001. ''The Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Act'
Oak Ridges Moraine
Oak Ridges Moraine
The Oak Ridges Moraine is an ecologically important geological landform in the Mixedwood Plains of south-central Ontario, Canada. The moraine covers a geographic area of between Caledon and Rice Lake, near Peterborough. One of the most signif ...