Date post: | 02-Jan-2016 |
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• There’s a farming town a little outside of Toronto called Melancthon.
• This is where potatoes are grown, mostly sold in Toronto.
• One day……….
• 1 company from the USA started buying all the small potato farms in the area.
• They claimed that they wanted to keep growing potatoes. (just have 1 potato company)
• This company had lots of money and paid a high price for the potato farms.
• This company was able to buy almost all of the land from the small farmers.
• However……….
• Once this company owned the land they then “changed their mind”.
• They “found out” that they could make more money by mining the land for construction materials.
• It was not so great for the people who lived in the area.
• -this destroyed food production the people needed.
• It was not so great for the people who lived in the area.
• -this destroyed food production the people needed.
• -the mining process would have contaminated a river running through the are. About 1 million people use the water that would be downstream.
• The company’s perspective (shareholder)
• It’s our land• We are free to do what we want with it.
• We are providing jobs for you• We are helping your economy grow.• If we don’t put a mine here we will put a mine
somewhere else instead, and you won’t like that either.
• The perspective of the people (stakeholders)
• -The company’s actions put the local food security at risk
• -The company would pollute the water others depended on.
• The perspective of the people (stakeholders)
• -The company’s actions put the local food security at risk
• -The company would pollute the water others depended on.
They should not be allowed to do this.
• The company started to prepare to work on the mine.
• The people got very angry.
• What could the people do?
• People worked with others who also cared about what was happening
• http://ndact.com/
• Got media coverage. (news reports)• http://www.thestar.com/news/ontario/articl
e/734969--limestone-quarry-threatens-prime-farm-land
• Wrote to the government.
• Wrote to the Minister of the Environment to let them know what people thought.
• Signed a petition.
• http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/megaquarry/
• About 160000 people quickly signed.
• Before the mine got started the Ontario government made the company stop.
• Understand….
• Governments in Canada like having good relationships with money.
• They also must listen to the people.
• Before the mine got started the Ontario government made the company stop. (temporarily)
• Thousands of people told the government that this wasn’t fair and there needed to be time to study the environmental effects.
• It was a very interesting reason why the government was able to get the company to stop….
• -it wasn’t about the food security.
• -it wasn’t about the water contamination
• The bobolink is a threatened species.
• The bobolink sometimes lives in the trees near the potato farms.
• The bobolink is a threatened species.
• The bobolink sometimes lives in the trees near the potato farms.
• Canada has the Species at Risk Act.
This means Canada must protect the habitat of all species at risk.
• The Species at Risk Act exists because Canada signed the International Convention on Biological Diversity
• The Species at Risk Act exists because Canada signed the International Convention on Biological Diversity
• Because Canada was a part of the International convention on Biological Diversity, the people were able to prevent (temporarily) the company from destroying the farmland and ruining the water supply.
• It is a very powerful law that people can use to protect their local environment.
• It is also a law that can make things difficult for businesses that cause pollution.
• Why didn’t the USA sign the International convention on Biological Diversity?
• They wanted to protect the FREEDOM for the landowner to use the land how they wanted.
• The rights of the individual are more important than the rights of the group.
• Shareholders are more important than stakeholders.
• In some cases, Americans are a very misinformed about issues.
• who owns the media in the US? • what message do they want Americans to
get?)
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Species_at_Risk_Act
• http://www.davidsuzuki.org/blogs/panther-lounge/2011/09/more-melancthon-mega-quarry-mysteries/
• http://melancthonquarry.ca/