The Growth Plan seeks to…

The Growth Plan seeks to plan for growth and development in Ontario by balancing economic prosperity with environmental protection to ensure Ontarians can enjoy high quality of life. Unfortunately, many of the proposed policy revisions would weaken safeguards for natural and agricultural lands, water and biodiversity. In conjunction with the extended timeline and methodology for forecasting population and employment growth, the proposed revisions would facilitate urban sprawl and cannot be reconciled with the purported objective of the Plan.
Please consider the following recommendations:
1) Do not proceed with allowing municipalities to exceed the forecasts.
2) Wait of the 2021 Census before extending the forecasts.
3) Give the Ministry of Finance the lead in the development of any new forecasts.
4) Reject the housing mix assumptions underlying the proposed forecasts and revisit them in conjunction with the review based on the 2021 Census, with the Ministry of Finance in the lead.
5) Retain the current prohibition on aggregate extraction in the habitat of endangered and threatened species in the regional Natural Heritage System to safeguard against the destruction of Ontario's most vulnerable plants and animals.
6) Retain the current prohibition against the conversion of lands within Provincially Significant Employment Zones to non-employment uses outside the MCR process.
7) Proceed with the amendment to require municipalities to engage with Indigenous communities in local efforts to implement the Growth Plan, and to provide necessary information to ensure the informed involvement of these communities.
8) Provide municipalities with appropriate resources to undertake consultation, including guidance materials on the duty to consult and appropriate levels of funding to undertake the consultation process.
9) Retain the term 'hydrologic functions' in the definition of 'Ecological Functions' so as not to undermine source and surface water protection conferred through the Growth Plan.
10) Amend the definition of 'Impacts of a Changing Climate' so that it encompasses the full range of potential impacts, including but not limited to impacts on health, biodiversity, water resources and food production and security.
11) Explicitly acknowledge the disproportionate impact of climate change on Indigenous communities and vulnerable and disadvantaged groups in the Growth Plan definition.