This is a horrible way to…

This is a horrible way to fix the housing problem. You're using land that has protections in place because they are unique and a one-of-a-kind type of land we have in this part of Ontario. "Replacing" the land with others does not negate the negative effects of doing so.

First, you are disturbing the ecosystem in that area. Things have likely stabilized over the course of some time because of the protection. A variety of protected animals and species at risk (see URL) won't be able to just simply "move" without suffering some sort of consequences, some which may be very severe. They could lose nesting areas, reliable access to food and water, become separated and broken up into smaller groups that weakens them. The plan mentions nothing about how to ensure that this disaster is avoided. The plan should not go forward without having extreme care taken into making sure that what you displace will be able to move elsewhere with little to no issue.

This may take some time over the course of a few years, which may delay plans. You might as well find some other land to build on then.

The other concern I have is how can we now be sure that these protections will be honoured as time goes on. You could argue that because you're "expanding the greenbelt" it's okay to violate the original intent of protecting the land. But with the protection technically being violated already, we are now unsure if it will not get worse later on, and we are unsure that this land which we very much need the way it is will continue to be protected. Perhaps in the future, the replacement land used for the greenbelt is completely inadequate. Or maybe over time, it will eventually be moved over to encompass an area that the belt originally was not designated for, simply because it's of lower quality. It is a scary thing to think about and it instills distrust in the public, which I believe is justified.

The intention is good, but intentions don't matter when the execution of said intentions is horrible.