Archive

Defending what is great

August 15, 2024   ·   0 Comments

By Constance Scrafield

I had the very great pleasure of sitting this week with the 12 young actors and their director of the The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, a Theatre Orangeville Young Company Drama production, running over the weekend of Aug. 23 to 25. This is my summer routine and it is always exciting to see the smiles and the pride of these young people entering into theatre arts, and the confidence and difference that being part of these shows grants.

The shy and bashful learn confidence and self-assurance; they learn the importance of depending on one another on the stage and the necessity of being reliable on the same board. If they were several steps out from fellow students or family members or acquaintances – chances are they will meet like minds in their theatre experiences. 

Certainly, these are some of the stories we have heard in many of my interviews with them.

Everything Theatre Orangeville is of value to the community and the last couple of decades have seen to that. The unique partnerships between Theatre Orangeville and Community Living Differin (CLD), Toronto Fringe, and I hope someone will write to the Citizen and tell us about the others, if such there be. 

The Dufferin Film Festival last weekend was such a great success that we can’t understand how it had not been thought of long ago.

The massively successful Blues and Jazz Festival launches Orangeville’s summers with splendid cars and grand music everywhere, stages popping up all over.

Okay, okay, Orangeville is a marvel of arts and culture. It is. Visual artists, authors, dance studios – we have so many blessings – may I call them blessings in the joy and good mental health they deliver?

Yet and yet, this idyllic town is at risk from frenetic over development and just to the south of us but not so far that it won’t have a massive impact, the plans for Highway 413.

It is well known that Orangeville’s water capacity stretches only to 36,000 people. Canada’s 2021 consensus puts the town at 30,167, since when, there has been a serious push to reach the limit and beyond, putting historic York Street at risk of being overdeveloped, for example.

In Caledon, by way of a how-was-that-legal passing of plans to build 35,000 new housing units over 12 areas in Caledon by finagling from Doug Ford to allow only 30 per cent approval of council for these plans. Mayor Annette Groves and Council members whose businesses are in development soon made short work of that, rushing it through without sufficient environmental assessment and only one public meeting.

The problem with living in such a beautiful place as Orangeville, a kind of “what could go wrong” place, is that complacency steps in and vigilance slips.

Have a look at the map of the proposed 413. It crosses the Gore Road, right at the Humber River and it crosses Airport Road. Imagine the chaos of closing that hilly track for months during construction.

It wraps around Mayfield West and the Etobicoke Creek. That is only a part of the wreckage. Take a look at the rest.

The plan is a 10-year construction schedule and currently, a $10 billion budget but we all know, over 10 years, that figure will rise like a continuing eruption volcano.

Most of all, the map of the the proposed 413 shows a meandering loop going nowhere, simply ignoring the 407 running straight in some of the same direction and saving a mere 30 seconds of travel time. A waste of time, and danger, the destruction of much of Caledon, the land, the water, the wildlife, all to achieve nothing for the better but a great deal of harm. Developers might not mind; they might love it.

There is, of course, an easy alternative in the 407 with a toll trucking companies are loath to pay. Rather than a new untold expensive highway through pristine countryside and precious farmland, subsidizing the toll for trucks is a much less costly and much more sensible way to help truckers afford their routes.

HeadwatersStop413 is a local group leading the charge here. They attend the Orangeville Famers’ Market on Saturdays to offer chances to sign a petition; they do flyer drops and a person can take a bundle and put them in letter boxes.

We used to talk about “progress.” It seemed inevitable even if not necessarily desirable. Those who protested the never-ending smear of concrete – their opinions were trampled under by people making fortunes but no one slowed down to think things through and find better, more environmentally wise, more ethical and have we even tried for beautiful?

We are talking about the environment now, so late in the day. Yet, more than ever we have to watchdog our leaders, the people we trusted with our vote to think things through.

Yes, we do have to watch them. We know that Doug strayed in his dealings with developers over the issues with the Green Belt and we won briefly there. Have we heard about the subsequent police investigation against him?

He will never stop unless we stop him. 

Check these out:

Media Advisory: October 14 Harvest Ontario Walk to Stop The 413

Also, have a look at the map of the 413 – 

Map of Highway 413 proposed route

Readers Comments (0)