Former provincial Green Party candidate and local teacher urges St. Marys council to endorse Bill 21

Galen Simmons, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

A local teacher and former Perth-Wellington candidate for the Green Party of Ontario is urging St. Marys council to endorse Bill 21, the Protect Our Food Act, put forward by provincial Green Party leader and Guelph MPP Mike Schreiner and Haldimand-Norfolk MPP Bobbi-Ann Brady.

Speaking as a delegate before council at its Jan. 13 meeting, Ian Morton shared his and the Green Party of Ontario’s concerns with the Conservative government’s development-first agenda at the cost of roughly 319 acres of Ontario farmland every day.

“Through my heavy involvement in politics over the last decade, I feel I have a pretty good understanding of the pressures facing communities in Perth County, specifically St. Marys, Stratford and rural areas as well,” Morton said. “So, here we come to the great need for housing across the     province, and hence a lot of the actions that are being undertaken by our provincial government.

“St. Marys, obviously, is growing in many ways, which is great, and across the province this is happening, so we’re being faced with many land-development choices that are being made and enacted, sometimes quite quickly. Provincial legislation Bill 5, now specifically allows for overriding of provincial rules and regulations as well as municipal policies and through the continued used of MZOs (ministerial zoning orders) or the new potential with special economic zones.”

The Conservative government’s controversial Bill 5, the Protect Ontario by Unleashing Our Economy Act, received royal assent last June and aims to reduce regulatory requirements for developers by amending existing laws including the Endangered Species Act, Environmental Assessment Act and Mining Act, and by introducing special economic zones where selected projects can be exempt from compliance with provincial laws, regulations and municipal bylaws.

As regulations are relaxed for developers, Morton told council the province is losing more farmland to urban sprawl every day. Considering the agricultural sector contributes more than $47 million to the provincial economy and supports jobs for one in every nine Ontarians, Morton said there is an urgent need to put protections in place against the threat of development.

“To protect our agricultural sector, which is of course vital for so many economies in Perth County and across the province, to protect the autonomy of municipalities to be able to make their own decisions on how development happens within their communities and to make sure that farmers and families have decisions and choices that they can make as well, we come to the need for the creation of Bill 21.

“ … Bill 21 would establish the food belt protection plan and advisory committee. This would be a committee made up of independent stakeholders in the agricultural business, in soil sciences and in agricultural land decisions. There would be no politicians involved. The committee’s function would be to make recommendations for a food belt protection plan, they would ensure the preservation and enhancement of a geographically continuous agricultural land base – hence we get the food belt. Much like … the Greenbelt where we have environmentally sensitive lands, … the food belt would create a similar idea but based around our food security, protecting our agricultural lands.”

Bill 21, Morton explained, would amend the Planning Act for land prescribed for agricultural use by prohibiting rezoning of those lands unless an agricultural impact assessment is undertaken, regardless of any declarations of MZOs or special economic zones.

Morton said a number of municipalities have already endorsed Bill 21 and the creation of a Food Belt, including Hamilton, Grey Highlands, Centre Wellington, Halton Hills and the Town of Minto.

“No matter where the sprawl happens, it’s eventually going to affect all of us because our food supply is going to be affected, correct?” Coun. Marg Luna said in response to Morton’s presentation. “I would like to support a motion (endorsing this bill).”

Having passed its first reading in May 2025, Morton said Bill 21 isn’t expected to be back at the House of Legislature for its second reading until this May, offering Luna and town staff time to bring a notice of motion around supporting this bill with wording specific to St. Marys back to council at a future meeting.

However, some councillors expressed concerns with the idea of adding another layer of red tape to the development process. Coun. Dave Lucas, a general contractor by trade with years of experience in the construction industry, told Morton he isn’t comfortable with the idea of supporting the creation of another regulatory body, especially one without any municipal representation.

“I definitely support agriculture in our community; I guess I look at this as another provincial layer on top of (everything else),” he said. “As far as providing autonomy to the municipalities, this is still a bill coming from the province saying this is farmland that you as a municipality can’t touch unless you jump through A, B and C which, to be quite frank, has gotten us into a lot of the troubles we’re in now.

“So, to say that it would continue to give municipal councils autonomy, it would still be coming from the province and it would be another layer on top of the Greenbelt, which doesn’t necessarily affect us, but it just creates that layer and it creates that next hurtle for us to go through.”

While Morton said the bill could encourage municipalities to build within their borders instead of expanding beyond them, Lucas pointed out the town is already focused on increasing density and promoting infill developments because it is simply more expensive to develop beyond the town’s settlement area.

Though Lucas suggested the lack of municipal representation on the proposed farm belt committee would leave the town without a seat at the table, Morton said the province’s potential use of MZOs and special economic zones could leave the town, as well as local agricultural stakeholders, without a seat at the table regardless. Morton pointed to the ongoing procurement of 770 acres of prime farmland down the road in Wilmot Township for an as-of-yet undisclosed mega industrial site as an example.

“I would suggest, from some of the comments I’m hearing, we need to tailor our resolution, if there was a resolution, to be more specific to St. Marys,” Mayor Al Strathdee said. “For example, I think the resolution from the City of Hamilton is quite different, I think, than one coming from St. Marys would be. … Perhaps we need to do some more research on Bill 21, as well, but I do think this is certainly a worthwhile discussion.”