When is the economic development serpent satisfied?

I have been trying to fully appreciate recent news that a lot more poop than was first expected, is making its way, untreated, into Lake Ontario. Most environmental watchers in Southern Ontario, have known this as general knowledge for decades but may have been somewhat surprised by revelations about a larger volume free-flowing into an already highly contaminated North American waterway. Is it any wonder beaches are closed due to e-coli contamination every summer?
This blogger hopes the citizens of Toronto and other Southern Ontario centres, found to have inadequate sewage treatment facilities, will crowd into a municipal council meeting to strongly suggest the problem be dealt with “NOW.” And that before any more expansive urban development, upwards or hinterland-way, can commence, the unbelievable situation of turds flipping end over end into the lake, has to stop or else. Or else the province must step in and fix the problem and if the buck gets passed onward, the feds need to stop the great feces caper. But it will take a colossal effort by the citizens of the city and this province, to demand major preventative action.
As it relates to Muskoka, well, our local movers and shakers have been prostituting the region for decades now, attempting to transplant urban times upon the hinterland, in the name of “economic development.” Most of the candidates in recent municipal elections in Muskoka used “economic development,” to appease those of us who feel we need much more prosperity in our lives. Of course many citizens, told they can have “MORE” will find it difficult to settle for less, such that the quest is never likely to satisfy appetite. After the election, sensing that the citizenry is just as greedy as it was before the election, feel unfettered about accepting the development bids by any one with a couple of million to speculate on our region, whether it is what we need or not. I will argue this to my grave but there is something fundamentally wrong when economic development is more important than our ecological well being. Like many cities, Muskoka also has aging and outdated infrastructure. Instead of making sure, absolutely sure we can handle new development stresses on the system, our leaders put on that “Can-Do” expression, glad handing a future that for them is four years until end of an elected term. After that, who cares? Then we’re stuck with “their” vision of what Muskoka should look like. If the environment needs to be sacrificed that’s the price of achieving a “vision for the future.” Wouldn’t it be great if one elected official had “a vision” of “a healthy, thriving forest,” and a “clean, unpolluted lake,” ahead of the ceaseless quest for urban expansion.
When I was a kid, living in the young City of Burlington, I could smell Lake Ontario from our home a block from the lakeshore. Where I used to swim, you had to contend with dead fish. In your face, under foot, and everywhere else on that beachfront. You couldn’t have a picnic there because it smelled too foul to work up anything more than a dry heave. The water of Ramble Creek that ran through our neighborhood, smelled like chemicals and other related refuse, continually dumped down the embankment by residents who didn’t think it mattered what entered the water course. The fact that it drained right into Lake Ontario didn’t make much difference to them. I knew neighbors who ate the smelt netted in that toxic creek. I have watched myself for various forms of cancer because I got many soakers in those days (late 1950’s and early 1960’s) and seldom came home from playing in the ravine that I wasn’t wearing the moisture of Ramble Creek.
When I moved to Muskoka, with my family in the winter of 1966, I was in awe of the wide open spaces, the abundant forests, wetlands, creeks and lakeland. The critters. My god, so many wonderful critters. It was a beautiful, thriving hinterland. My new hometown was charming with its cohesive main street, building owners who also ran the storefront enterprises, and it was obvious the community recognized that its most significant enterprise was the tourism industry. In 1966 the business leaders knew the relevance of our natural resources to the financial bottom line. When the 24th of May weekend arrived with considerable pomp and circumstance, in respect to Queen Victoria’s reign, the towns of Muskoka were ready. They rolled out the carpet for our faithful, loyal visitors, who spent millions of dollars even then, as a much needed respite from urban stresses. Every business owner, every politician, every citizen knew what it meant to commence another “tourist season.” It would be a bustling, thriving district until the Thanksgiving weekend in October. Muskoka’s tourism industry began this way in the 1870’s as a going concern. Even at a time when homesteaders were carving out farms from the dense forest and rock, the city weary were retreating to Muskoka guest homes in droves, to benefit from clean wide open spaces, and the invigorating, health-promoting, soot-free air.
In the late 1970’s Muskoka politicians were being pressured to make the region more economically viable throughout the year. We needed more industry. More investment. More retail development. In short, we needed to be more aggressive to get our fair share of the cash being waved about by developers who were looking to speculate outside the city. What started as a high expectation did slowly become reality, and the hunt and seek for “progress,” was being notched up based on what was being “caught”. In the early 1990’s I predicted, with some accuracy, that Muskoka would experience huge development interest, and it would be incumbent upon every citizen to impress upon local government, the necessity for strict policies about the kind and extent of development we could safely handle. As you might gather, the horses were long gone before citizens mustered the courage to ask councilors to close the barn door. Thusly, we were graced the kind of urban sprawl in the name of….”you wanted economic development…..so here it is!”
The problem is that a majority of councilors, elected in Muskoka, are not as keen to report to constituents, they’ve spent their time working on projects to safeguard the eco-system, but rather prefer bestowing news about the advancement of yet another urban business or residential node in development. Just once in my lifetime, I would like to hear an elected official in Muskoka stand up and state that we are in serious danger of damaging the ecology of the region, if we continue to expand to meet the demands of the city. You know, the city that tends to use natural water course as an auxiliary toilet.
What troubles me the most is that I was part of the propaganda machine, in the late 1970’s, through mid 1990’s, composing thousands of regional features designed to present Muskoka in its best, most positive light. My historical features ran in almost every local paper, and my circulation was staggering for a small town writer who was content to stay that way. It wasn’t until the late 1990’s that I started to get requests for my writing services, to promote new development projects. I had written many business features and afterall, I was a struggling writer with a young family. Of course I needed the money, and I’d already been a shill for big business during my days with the community press. At the same time I had received considerable Outdoor Education tutoring from my friend David Brown, of Hamilton, one of the captains of out-of-class education in the province. I went on many cross country hikes with the good Mr. Brown in these concluding years of the century, sometimes with students, and on other eco-walks, one-on-one, criss-crossing both marsh and highland. I came to realize how absolutely critical it was that the young generations learn about nature and its welfare. Nothing Dave ever told me was propaganda. I could research anything he said or claimed, and uncover the ecological reality straight up. Having participated in several outdoor programs with my young sons here in Muskoka, I developed some serious after-thoughts about the promotional writing I had been pursuing as a second income. I began turning down gigs, if in any way, I felt uncertain about a project’s impact on our region. I made more than a few developers angry that the home town historian wasn’t prepared to endorse “Their” vision of “Our” future.
Without knowing it, I had been participating in a lengthy sale’s pitch to investors everywhere, to come and take advantage of our expansive and unlimited investment potential. I was just one small component of a welcoming-hand policy that has led to an ongoing interest in selling the district faster and more enthusiastically. When I read any political statement about “economic development,” and “attracting new investment,” I cringe, particularly when used in the same sentence or paragraph with reference to “environmental concern,” and “respect for our eco-system.” It never works out that way but as a word-smith who is perpetually concerned about the reaction of the reader, it reads and sounds like responsible governance. If it wasn’t for a few die-hard environmentalists beating their drums for public attention, our fate would be sealed much sooner, in a quagmire of too much development…..too much poop in our lakes and rivers.
The question I pose to any locally elected official, who will spare a moment of time, is whether or not there will ever be a time, when the number one issue of good governance, doesn’t fall under the umbrella of “economic development.” When will the citizens be satisfied with what they have? Simply stated, there is “No” finality to this quest for economic well being. No matter how many emotional, passionate presentations about the reasons we should accept the latest offering of urban sprawl, there will always be “the next most important development that will deliver us from economic hardship.” Yet try to impress upon a local politician that the “MORE” you acquire, the greater the demand on “EVERY THING.” Only a fool would believe development alone will deliver us from self proclaimed despair. This is a two headed serpent that will stagger our own limits to growth. In the process, we will slowly destroy our number one industry, tourism, because visitors will choose to go further north, (as they have been) to get beyond the grasp of urban reality. Our tourist population and second home owners, do not come to Muskoka for its shopping advantages. A developer will tell you differently. They will charm politicians with tales of magic beans and streets paved with gold, and convince the gullible that the box store experience will make us whole. Make us more competitive! Make us more attractive! I’ve never once been pleasantly startled to see a strip mall or box store monstrosity.
Until we have a political network of councilors who see the trap of over-extending our willingness to share, we will continue to see development and speculation run rampant. It’s happening in many target communities across the province, and the stories are pretty much the same. What a role model district we would be, if our government levels agreed, we are urbanizing too much, too fast, and sacrificing too much of our open space without knowing the true measure of consequence.
I do not belong to a political party. I don’t have a membership card from any environmental action group. I don’t heckle politicians who don’t agree with my plan, and only occasionally do I submit a letter to the editor. But in all my compositions now, I do, without apology, defend the integrity and well being of the nature around us. I make many requests of the education administrators in this region, this province and country, to infuse more money to keep outdoor education programs alive. The only way to save this earth, to save our offspring, is to educate students from the earliest grades onward, how they must be responsible for ongoing stewardship of the eco-system that keeps mankind alive. In every year of school study, environmental immersion is mandatory, if we truly expect to change the collision course we’re on toward our own eventual extinction.
I love my home region. I adore the hinterland around me. As the environment has long assisted my work as a writer, and inspired me generously in all my tasks, I have made it a mission, to never again turn my back on a dear, threatened ally in need. Whether you live in Muskoka or anywhere else in our beautiful province and country, please take environmental matters seriously. Start in your own neighborhood. When you hear or read about an outdoor education program being cut because of budget slashing, take a stand for its preservation. Take a few moments to help clean up a green belt or neighborhood park, and let you neighbor know it’s unacceptable to dump refuse into an adjacent woodlot or watershed; as I watched in that beautiful ravine where Ramble Creek snaked through the forest toward the lake.
Thank you for taking the time to read this humble submission.