Raise the Hammer

Re: Gore Buildings

The Gore buildings on King St. can be protected from the wreckers ball with a simple resolution of council to issue an intent to designate. This will void any demolition application.
If the buildings were on the register, as they should have been, (much simpler than designation) the 60 day waiting period would effectively avoid any surprise demolitions.
The truth is that the Heritage preservation process in Ont. is not conducive to heritage preservation.
The future of our heritage lies in the hands of lower tier government, who may or may not have any interest in preservation.
The Heritage Act. was cleverly designed and passed as enabling legislation, which does not obligate anyone to comply with this Ont. Act. ( unlike other provincial Acts) There is no legal requirement for anyone to comply with the Ont Heritage Act. Regardless of well-informed Heritage Committee recommendations, council is free to do as they wish, without recourse.
However, council is legally bound by their own official plan and their county plan, both of which contain heritage policies.
They are also bound by heritage policies in the PPS. which state that important heritage buildings shall be preserved. Because councils are not held accountable, they elect to ignore these heritage policies (if, in fact they know they exist) resulting in the unnecessary loss of our heritage, ever since the Act was passed. Meanwhile Queens park turns a blind eye.
This unfortunate state of affairs places our long-suffering volunteer heritage committee members at an impossible disadvantage. The future of our built heritage looks grim, but then this status has always remained constant.
There has been no meaning full progress in the last 40 years and there never will be, unless Queens Park stops paying lip service and undertakes to pass some serious legislation that will support heritage committees and will hold local elected officials accountable.
Any volunteers for a Heritage Committee?