Week 11 - Expert Panel on EA in Canada

Question 1

Why is the Oak Ridges Moraine so significant?

Answer 1

• important ecological and hydrological landscape
• 160km long that is the headwaters to 65 rivers and streams
• deep aquifers source of drinking water to ~250,000 people

Question 2

What is the legislative background of the Oak Ridges Moraine?

Answer 2

• Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Act 2001 established the Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Plan (ORMCP) as regulation
• the act establishes municipalities as implementers once municipal official plans and zoning by-laws amended to conform
• ORMCP regulates land uses within the ORM plan area

Question 3

What is the vision of the ORMCP?

Answer 3

• purpose: provide land use and resource management planning direction to protect ecological and hydrological features and functions
• primary objectives: protect ecological and hydrological integrity of ORM; maintain, improve, or restore ecological features and functions

Question 4

How are non-land uses/infrastructure proposals treated under ORMCP?

Answer 4

• for any transportation, infrastructure, or utilities project that requires a municipal class, provincial, or federal EA
• projects shall not be approved unless the need for the project has been demonstrated and there is no reasonable alternative

Question 5

Explain the York Durham Sewage System (YDSS) Haynes Lake example

Answer 5

• YDSS twinning required to meet approved growth projections (1990s Region of York OP review)
• situated in a most restricted policy area in the most degraded part of the ORM (Richmond Hill)
• Class EA problems: high maintenance costs, difficult winter driving conditions, regular roadway flooding in spring, road section well below regional standards (grades, sharp curves, etc.) & nothing mentioned about salt loading despite its significance on the protected landscape
• limited scoping: analysis looks at least amt of damage inflicted by each alt, no opportunity for how this project could enhance/restore, problem statement should have included ecological damage so alt could be rated based on improvements to eco health

Question 6

What is a conservation authority?

Answer 6

ensure the conservation, restoration and responsible management of Ontario’ water, land, and natural habitats through programs that balance human and economic needs

Question 7

What is the conservation authority mandate?

Answer 7

• ensure Ontario’s rivers, lakes, and streams are properly safeguarded, managed and restored
• protect, manage, and restore Ontario’s woodlands, wetlands, and natural habitat
• develop and maintain programs that will protect life and property from natural hazards such as flooding and erosion
• provide opportunities for the public to enjoy, learn from, and respect Ontario’s natural environment

Question 8

What is the system of urban sprawl?

Answer 8

Continuous cycle of pop growth to consumer demand for detached homes to extent of sprawl and back to pop growth where it repeats

• much more complex with added influences of home prices, developer marketing and profitability, anti-sprawl policy, developer lobbying, intensification barriers, etc.
• larger carbon footprints in the suburbs and higher demand - more people moving there than cities

Question 9

Explain the term of modernity

Answer 9

Short term for modern society/industrial civilization

• certain set of attitudes towards world, the idea of the world as open to transformation by human intervention
• complex of economic institutions, especially industrial production and market economy
• certain range of political institutions, including nation state and mass democracy