May 23, 2001

APPENDIX 1

Re: O.P.E.R.A. Written Submission to the Niagara Escarpment Plan Review

BACKGROUND PROFILE OF AGENDA 21

(framework document of the Convention for Biological Diversity treaty)

In 1992, hundreds of fringe and main stream environmental activists joined United Nations delegates and leaders of many nations at a so-called Earth Summit conference in Rio de Janeiro. Arranged, promoted and dominated by powerful non-government organizations under the direction of Canada’s own Maurice Strong, the conference evolved from the 1987 Bruntland Report which advocated a global, as opposed to a national or regional, response to perceived environmental and ecological problems.

A massive document entitled Agenda 21 was unveiled at that conference as a blueprint for 21st century world government administered through subscribing nations but directed from a global perspective, presumably by the United Nations or its nominee. The sheer scope and detail of Agenda 21 discourages public interest and all but eliminates public debate. Hence most ordinary citizens are completely unaware of the approaching Big Brother regime under which they and their descendants may soon have to live, a circumstance no doubt anticipated by the authors of this disturbing treatise.

Following introduction and reported? acceptance of Agenda 21 at the Rio Earth Summit, an international treaty based on that sweeping document and entitled the Convention for Biological Diversity was presented for immediate subscription by attending nations. This agreement was promptly signed for Canada without public or parliamentary approval by then-current Prime Minister Brian Mulruney assisted by his then-current Minister of Environment Jean Charest. It’s perhaps significant that, after reviewing its frightening implications, the U.S. contingent declined to sign the Convention for Biological Diversity. Among its requirements are national support for the Man and the Biosphere component from which initiates the United Nations World Biosphere Reserve program recently installed on the Niagara Escarpment without public knowledge or consent.

To maximize Agenda 21 credibility and, in the process, blunt public doubts, its galvanizing principle during (and since) the Rio conference was “sustainable development”, a catch-all definition that means whatever its proponents want it to mean. The content, if not the consequences, of the Agenda might be better judged from examination of its extensive Internet rendering. Accordingly, the Hearing Officers for the 2001 Escarpment Plan Review are urged to view Agenda 21 at the following web site:

http://www.igc.apc.org

A lengthy essay appearing in the Summer 1999 edition of The Independent Review and entitled “Doomsday Every Day” by Jacqueline R. Kason, Professor Emeritus of Economics at Humbolt State University in California, will be found equally instructive.

If you have any questions or comments, please Mr. R. A. Fowler, Secretary.
or write
O.P.E.R.A. c/o R.A. Fowler, Secretary P.O. Box 483, Durham, Ontario. N0G 1R0