Where I Stand
Markham's Municipal Decisions
Construction/Building Permits
Markham's building permits have taken an increase in action in the past few years. The locals have seen their community around them grow and develop at a fast rate. Construction has taken over residential areas and roads, making some places hectic to transport through. While some of these developments are definitely furthering the growth of Markham, their processes and sometimes the final outcome also raise problems for the town of Markham. A prime example of this is the over development of subdivisions. With Markham having the second highest immigration rate in North America, we have to make space for everyone coming in. Real estate has been booming recently and more of these subdivisions have been being built. While that helps the problem of housing newcomers, it also has a number of drawbacks. The space being used for the new housing units is most likely viable or was already farmland. Farms and general natural spaces are becoming more rare because they're being sold for building permits. This limits the growth of organic food and supporting local farmers, and in general harms wildlife areas and habitats. The process of these construction projects also cause a hassle for commuters and travelers. Around the area of First Markham Place, mostly on Highway 7, traffic has been blocked and maneuvered differently to support the renovation and installment of things on the road such as road bus stops. This area is difficult to get through as traffic is piled up into certain areas in order for the construction to take place. While the construction in Markham develops the city for different purposes, it's processes and outcomes also raise problems that have to be dealt with.
Wildlife Protection
Wildlife protection is a world wide issue, being a problem in many countries. The importance and value of this issue is high, having many benefactors if we succeed in protecting our wildlife. Markham's wildlife areas have been decreasing over the last few years. This has happened because of the development of new buildings, which need land to construct. When new building permits are approved, land is surveyed and bought by construction companies for building. While this is a fair system, these transactions are destroying a lot of our wildlife areas. For example, farm lands are increasing in rarity simply because farmers are being bought out by big companies for the land they have. Buying the land from the farmers does not trouble the farmer financially, but the great amount of land that is lost because of these deals is becoming more and more troubling. Losing wildlife land means we are destroying these habitats. It is important to preserve the diversity of species that we hold in Markham, to be a leader in doing this for the rest of Canada and the world, as the world increases in destroying wildlife. Important species such as bees have seen a decrease in population during the last few years, a prime example of important species being dwindled down by the urban planning of wildlife areas. Protecting these wildlife areas should be a top priority of Markham's municipal government and should be a main goal of many governing decisions around the world.
Water Works
Water is an obvious mandatory resource for many species. So why is it not always considered to be a big priority in government decision making? Markham's water comes from Lake Ontario, and is carried by pipes to our water storage and distribution systems. Our water is then tested by the staff of these water operating systems from Toronto and York Region. While our tap water comes out clean and of good quality, bodies of water not only in Markham but around the world and seen to being dumping areas for our garbage. Markham is not the only town guilty of this, as many places have dumped their waste and garbage into fresh bodies of water. This pollutes the water making it harder to clean for use, and may also make it unhabitable for certain species. This issue should be a main concern for all municipal governments as they should protect their local bodies of water from being polluted. It is not only corporations that do this but can easily be the public as well. It is common to see trash thrown away from the public into these natural areas. Putting a fine or strictly prohibiting these actions will help prevent the dirtying of our bodies of water, and will help keep our lakes, local ponds etc clean. Markham should strive to keep it's bodies of water clean for species inhabiting it as well as not allowing people to pollute our natural land.