Something is seriously wrong with the Ontario government's plan to manage population growth. It contradicts the government's promise implied in the Greenbelt Plan to restrict greenfield development. As I have no address for the Minister of Infrastructure Renewal, I wish you would forward my comments to him, the Premier and relevant ministers.

The Greenbelt Plan was supposed to restrict development on environmentally sensitive and agricultural land, but it encompasses only a small, already developed corner of Dufferin County; the rest of the county is largely greenfield.

Now the government wants to impose a 150%(*) population increase on the county's rural area. The county cannot afford the infrastructure to support that level of growth, but Minister David Caplan has been quoted as saying that he is "dead set" on the numbers.

The Provincial Policy Statement and Municipal Act require future development to be tied to community sewage systems, but escape clauses in those documents allow private septic systems and wells where community systems are impractical. Growth here occurs in widely separate areas that cannot be linked with pipelines; so increased numbers of private wells and septic systems all over Dufferin County would be inevitable. As the locations of existing wells, abandoned wells and septic systems are poorly recorded, control of pollution by the so-called "Clean Water Act" would be quite impossible.

The arguments against imposed growth were raised during a Mono-Mulmur Citizens' Coalition meeting and were published in a local newspaper 9 November: balancing the sensitive natural environment (Dufferin County is known as Headwaters Country) with provincial decrees; navigating a maze of conflicting provincial laws and absent but needed provincial guidance; urban-oriented direction that is incompatible with rural and agricultural reality; the limited water supply; the limited sewage effluent allowed by conservation authorities; imposition of additional population on small communities that have small-community water and sewage systems; and a general absence of rural understanding and sympathy in the provincial rules.

I cannot envision a more misguided, corrupted set of legislation. Who must pay for the added water and sewage systems, upgrades and expansions? Where will the "8,000 jobs" come from if the government does not supply them? How can greenfields and farms survive in accordance with the province's declared intention to preserve them? Has any current provincial minister ever visited Dufferin County and talked with the local government bodies? What population support is the government offering for declining towns and cities north of Georgian Bay?

Some progress is admittedly generated from government policy, but many of the goals to which we as a province aspire are achieved through the efforts of individuals who simply go ahead and do what they believe is best. Many locals have invested their time and money in upgrades to the Headwaters Health Care Centre in Orangeville, the retirement home in Shelburne and other initiatives. My immediate neighbours and I have planted about 150 acres of trees for the betterment of the environment, and others have taken similar action. My point is that locals are not stupid when it comes to progress and improvement of the quality of life. Their wishes must be respected by provincial authorities.

I fear there is no hope for logical planning from the

growth plans?

present Ontario government; so I must ask you to delay implementation of these wild policies until a change in government can be effected next year. It may also help to advise Minister Caplan of some of the concerns that we folk north of Highway 7 - stewards of the vast majority of Ontario - have.

Charles Hooker

Orangeville

*I calculate the 150% population increase for rural areas as follows. Orangeville has a population of about 28,000 and can grow to about 32,000 based on water and sewage limitations. Shelburne (presently about 4,000) must have similar limits but I am unaware of them; we might estimate growth there of 2,000 souls. Dufferin County has a population of about 51,000, of which about 32,000 now reside in Orangeville and Shelburne; that leaves 19,000 inhabitants who live in Grand Valley, Orton, Marsville (all villages) and the greenfields countryside. A population increase of 29,000 (from 51,000 to 80,000) would therefore result in rural growth of 29,000/19,000 = 153%.