Climate Justice Durham

By Peter Cohen

The most important issue this election is not the environment, or housing affordability, or inflation. It's trust, a front on which many councillors have failed to impress.

On May 25th, over objections from regional advisory bodies, agricultural associations, community groups, and the results of public consultations, 15 councillors and Chair Henry voted for a Land Use Scenario created by BILD, a developer lobbying group. Not only did BILD’s Scenario not go through public consultation, but regional staff pointed out that BILD had left out important factors in their calculations, and so BILD’s Land Use Scenario likely did not accurately predict the amount of land that would need to be used. 

16 members of Regional Council voted for a Land Use Scenario that did not go through public consultation, directly contradicted the majority of community input, and did not even fulfill its main purpose. Beyond the negative impacts this decision will have on farmers, housing affordability, flooding, and our ability to fight climate change, there’s the simple issue of trust. Regional Council ignored the desires and interests of the people they’re supposed to represent, and in doing so, undermined their own trustworthiness.