Dear Premier,

On Thursday, August 6, approximately 200 individuals gathered in the Red Hill Valley to celebrate the talents of local writers and musicians and to support a neighbourhood fighting to protect its park. By all accounts, the Red Hill Valley Literary Festival was a successful community event.

That same day, you were in Stoney Creek, where you told the media that your government is committed to constructing the Red Hill Creek Expressway. You stated, "We believe we have had a full environmental assessment and we believe it is in the public interest to proceed."

To be clear: the environmental assessment is not, in fact, over. An environmental assessment begins when a project is proposed and it does not end until well after a project has been completed and its impacts have been monitored and documented.

In 1929, the City of Hamilton purchased the Red Hill Valley, declaring the valley would be, "parkland that would be outstanding on this continent."

Three quarters of a century later, the Red Hill Valley is Hamilton's largest park. It is the only natural area in the city's east end, and the creek running through it is the last of fourteen streams that once flowed through the city into Lake Ontario.

In the last year, construction began on the Red Hill Creek Expressway - a 7.5 kilometre link that will join Highway 403 with the Queen Elizabeth Way. 40,000 trees must be cut down to make way for the expressway. According to Friends of the Red Hill Valley, the roads and associated interchanges will carve the Red Hill Valley into at least 30 separate pieces.

Dear Minister Dombrowsky,

Further to our letters of January 23, 2004, December 17, 2003, November 5, 2003, November 13, 2003, and August 21, 2003, we are writing to clarify the status of the Red Hill Creek Expressway project.

Dear Mr. Frawley,

I am writing on behalf of Lake Ontario Waterkeeper and Red Hill Valley Neighbourhoods Association. We would appreciate the opportunity to address members of the Niagara Escarpment Commission at their meeting on April 15, 2004.

We have recently received a staff report dated February 18, 1999, in which the Niagara Escarpment Commission indicates it is in a difficult situation regarding the planning for the protection of the Niagara Escarpment. We wish to bring forward important new information about the Red Hill Creek Expressway environmental assessment process that we believe will assist the Commission in resolving this conflict. An outline of our submission is attached.

Dear Minister Dombrowsky,

Further to our letters of December 17, 2003, November 5, 2003, November 13, 2003, and August 21, 2003, we are writing to clarify the status of the Red Hill Creek Expressway project.

While we have been promised a response indicating whether or not the Red Hill Creek Expressway approvals warrant a reassessment under s.11.4(1) of the Ontario Environmental Assessment Act, we have not received a decision to date. This week marks the five-month anniversary of our request.

Dear Minister Dombrowsky,

Further to my letter of November 5, 2003, I am writing to offer you further information and assistance regarding the Red Hill Creek Expressway issue.

In our letter, Lake Ontario Waterkeeper suggested that the people of this province need the independent oversight of your ministry to ensure that the best interests of the Red Hill Valley and the watershed community are respected. We did not ask you to cancel the Red Hill Creek Expressway, but rather to review the 18-year old provincial approvals for the project and ensure that all activities are carried out only after fair and legitimate decisions are made.

Dear Ms. Dombrowsky,

Further to our letter of August 21, 2003, Lake Ontario Waterkeeper is calling on you, the Minister of Environment, to respond to our request for a re-evaluation of provincial approvals granted eighteen years ago for the construction of an expressway through hamilton's Red Hill Valley.