About Us | Aerotropolis | Sustainability | Provincial Planning | City Planning

Presentation to the Media Conference, August 23, 2005
by Michael Desnoyers

Good morning ladies and gentlemen and thank you for joining us today.

We have invited you today for the formal announcement of Hamiltonians for Progressive Development (HPD).

Today's announcement is in our view the culmination of a journey that began some 10 weeks ago with the notification from the City of Hamilton on June 1 st of the proposed changes to the regional official plan and those of the surrounding amalgamated municipalities. In short, the creation of the aerotropolis. Initially, my wife Carol and I were very concerned with the short notification period and the lack of extensive public input into the proposed changes. We became increasingly concerned as we educated ourselves about Vision 2020, GRIDS, Provincial Places to Grow legislation, the Provincial Policy Statement and the apparent lack of conformity to these various documents that the aerotropolis represented. As residents of Hamilton and the former Town of Ancaster for the past 47 years, our strong commitment to the community and desire for a better future for our children compelled us to launch an appeal with the OMB against the proposed changes on July 22. Almost immediately, we were overcome and strengthened by the huge support from individuals and organizations alike from the entire City of Hamilton.

We discovered that we shared a common belief in Vision 2020, the principles of GRIDS and the underlying need to treat equally the economic, social and environmental aspects for all development decisions. As more and more individuals came forth, we came to the realization that the aerotropolis and our concerns for planning decisions in general, was widespread and acting together we incorporated a not-for-profit organization called Hamiltonians for Progressive Development (HPD).

Fundamentally, HPD believes strongly in the principles of Vision 2020 and specifically to consider prosperity in the broadest of terms and the absolute need to engage the community in a comprehensive and extensive fashion.

We call upon Mayor Larry Di Ianni and the Council for the City of Hamilton to reverse its decision to expand the urban boundary and to establish a genuine community engagement process to plan for the city's long term prosperity. Carol and I would like to thank all those individuals who contacted us with words of support, encouragement and offers of financial support. We now invite you and all residents of the City of Hamilton to join with us in a common voice working with the city and the province to help create a healthy, vibrant, prosperous and sustainable community.

Let us all work together to bring the vision home.

Thank you.