While it is true that…

While it is true that housing is a major issue in the GTA, paving over the greenbelt will have disastrous social and environmental consequences. There are a number of reasons why this decision is not necessary and, in fact, will be detrimental to the lives of Torontonians.

1. The issue is not only housing, but affordable housing. Without addressing the speculative real-estate market, the government will not address the root cause of the housing crisis. Band-aid solutions like more peri-urban subdivisions will cause far more problems than they are worth.

2. There are many other solutions for housing in places that already exist within the limits of the Greenbelt. Government efforts should be focused on locating and building affordable housing in areas that can support middle-density development. Adaptive reuse of old buildings could aid in both labour and material costs. There are also many homes that are owned by an aging population, consider how existing homes can be used to provide housing to prospective new homeowners.

3. The Green Belt was protected for a reason. The rich soil of the area provides first-rate areas for agriculture and should be kept as such. It would be a waste otherwise. We should consider the ability of the GTA to provide itself with local food and crops as integral to its economic resilience, especially as global supply chains prove increasingly unreliable.

4. When urban centers spread outward, there are numerous negative effects. First, it destroys the habitat of many animals that will then move into the new development causing issues with coyotes, rats, and mice which introduce disease. This would increase the likelihood of another pandemic. Second, increased development means leveling and paving over permeable surfaces. The accumulated effect of this is catastrophic to watershed integrity and will cause major strains on both the city's natural stormwater infrastructure and the sewage system. This means major flooding downstream, which we are already seeing in certain neighborhoods. Third, vegetated land helps to address climate change, acting as a carbon sink.

Ontario requires the green belt to remain green, not only because it is essential to the ongoing economic functioning of Southern Ontario, but because developing the land will only cause more severe public-health and environmental problems in the future.