The following is an open letter to MPP Laurie Scott, submitted to the Minden Times.

I recently read the article [“Province greenlights controversial Pickering development on protected wetland using special order”, CBC News online Oct. 30, 2020] quoted here: “The 57-acre wetland, located just south of Highway 401 near Pickering’s border with Ajax, is part of the lower Duffin’s Creek wetland complex, which was deemed ‘provincially significant’ back in 2005 — a designation that is supposed to protect it from development or alteration. But on Friday, the Ministry of Housing and Municipal Affairs announced that a minister’s zoning order, or MZO, was being issued for the site, allowing a distribution centre and production facility to be built there.”

I would like to know how this decision could set a precedent for overruling other designated significant wetlands. I am writing as a concerned citizen.
Wetlands are an integral part of our water and ecosystems. Why spend money on land planning and research when it can all be overruled? As a board member with the Haliburton Highlands Land Trust who is in the midst of research on wetlands mapping this is discouraging news. Please clarify this decision.

Joan Duhaime
Haliburton County