This proposal is worrisome,…

This proposal is worrisome, and it's not clear to me that circumventing a variety of provincial legislation for the protection of groundwater, agricultural resources, and natural heritage is commensurate with the need to locate jobs in areas rich in these features. While everyone agrees that economic development and employment uses are incredibly important, the government has not demonstrated to the public that sufficient land base for these activities within designated settlement areas currently does not exist. Also, doesn't permitting these types of uses in the Oak Ridges Morraine and Greenbelt areas contradict statements the premier has made in the past re: "what the people want"? As an aside, the constant "for the people" and "open for business" rhetoric is juvenile, overly simplistic, and frankly insulting to Ontarians.

In addition, the Planning Act just underwent large revisions that municipalities are still coming to terms with. Fast-tracking another suite of changes is only going to complicate the approvals process. Perhaps this is what the province wants -- for chaos to reign at the municipal level and result in poor oversight, angry public meetings, and divisive governance. Very disappointed yet again in the policy choices this government makes.