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a it ami y- s ekattnbf stfstoufitr1tiesdwlw 3 the provincial ellcfftifi itfrectfo to envirohmdialjuture of york reeion 1 wy yv- f c ttf 1 7 bymikeadler staff writer doift belieye oak ridges tory candij date frank klees was saying last week t that tfie size of the budget for the ministry of environmenf can be -jr- fequated toits effectiveness sitting in a stoi2fville doughnut shop the day before he gave ouhrooo tree andshrub v seedlingsas a way to embrace ontarios natur- al envkonment klees made the case that the tories consider the environment important but the mike harris governments many environmental critics disagree fines against convicted polluters are at their lowesf level in a decade ohethird of what they were m 1995 and therninistry haslost i half of its 1995 budget and a third of its staff the l canadian environmental- law association announced diis week z i the governments own environment- com- rnijonerwrotevscathing report on the tories r recordscalling ontarios air equality a- vpubuc health crisis v c iwttiat thetorieshaveisnottjustjan image problem argued david bell a york university professor and director of the universitys centre rfor applied sustainability theyve done more to undercut environmental v in the ontarioigbverriment than anyonefcouldhave i as mpp for the nowdefiinct ridingof york mackenzie- klees- wrote a report that when friadepolicy slashed budgetsfor conservation authorities jn order itp refocus them on their original mission jqriod control this encouraged authorities to move into i selfsustainingparmerships with rriuhicir5alities vtahdjthe private sector jklees said adding hes y heard meriew approach is working i removed the restrictions they at- one timehadc t ibut managers of- jhe lake simcoe region goriseryationaumdrityinlkleesold riding say hthelakems a provincial resource and the govern- f anient shpuld bespending more to save it v f ability of uieuthoritpcar1tybu v kealthy and clean his dkninishted dramati- ycally saidgayle nwoodfcriiefi administrative f officer for the authority pix moraine she warned the liberal candidate for oakridges vitp3 spatafdrai is a proponent of carefully managed 7- 1 growth on die moraine but warned all devel oprnenvcaht bestdppea to stopgrowth is to a stop jobs he said j a richmond hillxouncillot spatafora said hefdoesht know if the province should buy the himofedsortfi6usalidsbfacresof private table- lands wluchareneededjprmebwnscorridor plan maybe there jfor landown ers that wecantake a look at hvsuggested klees said he suppbrts stokm but the groupseffprts must bebalariced against spien- tific studies on which developers spend hun dreds of thousands of dollars and the rights of property owhersr l last monththe harris government dedicat- ed 1630 acres of public land to rouge park forrriingan almostunbroken protective zone around a majors tributary the litde rouge through markhamfrom steeles avenue to major mackenzie drive markham tory mpp dave tsubouchi is also promising to work 30metre protective buffersalongthebarfebfmerougeriverthis is one of the jewels we still have in this province tsubouchi said his- pledge drew praise from glenn de baeremaeker of save the rouge valley system one of the groups battling for greater protection for the river im hoping there is a mbmeritum building he said ontarios planning act states developers must set aside a maximum five per cent of land for parks and often developers argue they must dip into required parkland to provide wider buffers jrtbut markham deputy mayor frank scarpitnv chairperson of the regions planning committee said the province can change the law to let municipalities protect woodlots and 30metre buffer zones along watercourses in addition to the legal requirement the regions tree cover is declining klees said fhe wants the government to look again at grant- municipalities the power to issue stop work orders against illegal treecutting y but de bearemaeker said the easiest to protect the regions remaining jfqrestsand woodlotsis to buy them this can be done he argued if governments spend on green infra- y i does new jersey governor christie whitman know something mike harris doesnt like harris the popular v republicah governor came to power promising tax j tougher measures oh crime and work for -welfare- vv but unlike harris whitman has been focusing on another issue land preservation last summer she pledged to protect a million acres of open space in new jersey half of it farmland within the next decade new jersey preserves farms by selling eightyear or permanent easements to farmerspreventing nonagricultural development on the land last june in maryland where a state farmland preservation pro gram has existed since 1977 152000 farm acres were perma- nendyprotected and owners of 323000 additional acres had accepted voluntary restrictions ontarios tory government meanwhile is selling off 8000 acres in markham and pickering farm land previously protected as ah agricultural preserve the provinces land agency objected to municipal easements aimed at preserving the farms on the pickering side but later with drew the objection after a cdmpro- misewasreached farmland is rapidly disappear ing under subdivisions around the greater toronto area but neither the tories nor the opposition liberalshave plans tostart a preservation program like new bhairpei oak moraine storm wants cahdi- v daterto reveal what theirpartieswill do to leg islate moraine protection while theres still time cialeatbut pfferednovtatement we may make changes totne surface which wemontgodntotriesekindof details a have impact oh that lower strata of the mental advisory committee cundari wahts-an- ports designated agncultural dis- environmental charge put on development niohey tiiatcould gbto afund to buyup farm land f suggested it makes sense to protect our land for our kids tf ictssas we lose farmland we lose our ability tb produce our own- food bymikeadler i ir