There are definitely people…

There are definitely people more qualified than me to speak on this, but I’m a student in Urban Planning and I truly want to see my province of birth become a great place to live.

Ontario doesn’t need more McMansions, power centers, strip malls and highways.
These things are the hallmarks of a neglected, desolate, soulless urban environment that requires a car to complete everyday tasks. It is blatantly unfriendly and unwelcome to those without cars, which mostly consist of: the old, the young, the disabled, and those living in poverty.
You shouldn’t feel like a second class citizen without a car, but in Ontario, in every single city I’ve been in, I do.

Work to change this. Please. It can be done without destroying the Greenbelt. Build upwards. Mixed uses. Relax zoning laws. Smaller parking lots. Thinner roads. Wider sidewalks.

We can build homes AND protect Ontario’s unique biodiversity and natural heritage. It doesn’t have to be one or the other. But that requires we change policies and stop building the cheap, lazy structures we are used to and comfortable destroying the environment for.