8 FOCUS - MARCH 2019 Thank you to everyone who has called all levels of government about this issue. I am so happy and must congratulate council for doing this survey and allowing our citizens in the township to talk about things they are not happy with. I only hope it will be published, including all the items people felt important enough to bring to light and hopefully, will be discussed and corrected where possible. I hope everyone had a great January and February and families got to talk and share thoughts and dreams of future expectations of this new council. This one mega farmer is still ripping and tearing perfect woodlots and protected watersheds apart, with no regard to rules or common sense. This township and regional councils need to stop rubber-stamping these severances, at least until they clean up their act to begin with, while we as a community assess the damage done so far. Take a drive from Port Perry to the east and see the damage. Kawartha Conservation says they must actually prioritize which infractions are the worst and try to deal with them. How do you fix destroyed tree lines and altered watercourses or bring back nature, destroyed by this ONE farmer? Hardly a fencerow left or clumps of trees in sight where this corporation has reached across and wiped out the neighbour. Another home severed and more money in their pocket to take out the next section. I’m not after the responsible, love-of-the-planet-farmers who have expanded in a polite way, and I hope they understand the stance I’m taking. It’s for their kid’s, grandkid’s and neighbour’s future in farming that I’m really thinking about now. Everyone seems blinded by houses covering all the good land, but should really be thinking about who is going to control all the farmland, with natural and carbon sensitive acres of marsh, streams, lakes and forests that will be our saviour some day. My hope is Doug Ford will stop this carnage and help the smaller farmer have a fair chance to protect these lands, before the land is gone. Please contact Lindsey Park our area MPP by calling 905-697-1501 or email her at lindsey.park@pc.ola.org. The government can easily change this policy back (Amendment 172) and save these hobby farms from becoming homeless and helpless. Anyone wanting to sell their little farms or properties with sensitive acreage, please be patient and take care and ask whom the buyer is and maybe pause to think, “Will they care for my piece of paradise?”. Many of you have nurtured and protected this piece of ground for years, as our forefathers did. We can find you a young farmer or buyer with a conscience. In the end, the money it sells for will be fair and equal to all others. If you’re selling, you control the pace of the sale and all offers should literally be on the table so you know everything is proper and both offers are being treated the same and equally. Anyway, if you feel so inclined, please make any and every level of government aware of your thoughts again, so we as a community can grow together without having a huge property master in our future. We can make this a diverse and soft agriculture area for all, which includes simple things like grassed fence rows and preserving all viable trees, which will stop torrents of water full of soil and chemicals heading to our lake system, wildlife and fish stock sanctuaries. We shouldn’t ham string our farmers but we must demand common sense sustainable practices as commonplace from the mega farm. Save our Farms Today (SOFT) Thanks, David Malcolm, shortpause@gmail.com or text me at 905-442-0086. “What we do for ourselves dies with us, but what we do for others will be remembered forever.” Farmers make a community not by one Mega Corp taking advantage of a bylaw to fill its pockets. The township and region must inform the province again and again the damage it’s doing to the diversity of our pristine area. MEGA FARM MESS Please call your regional councillor or any other elected official to stop this carnage. Once it’s done, there is no coming back. Life will change for all of us. My grandpa always said, “you gotta ship the bossy hog or you will end up with a pen full of skinny hogs.” (Collective Conscience cartoon) TIME OUT AREA My grandpa always said, “you gotta ship the bossy hog