I am strongly against the…

I am strongly against the proposed amendments to the greenbelt plan for the following three reasons:

1) Greenbelt is important for the environment of the GTA.
It protects the farmland, and our drinking water systems, and offset the emission from traffic and factories. It is an irreplaceable asset for Ontario and any damage will impact us and future generations. The proposed replacement plan cannot provide the same level of benefit and will result in damage and disruption in the local environment. Further, it will set the precedence for future Greenbelt development.

2) The development of Greenbelt cannot and will not solve the housing crisis.
As pointed out in the proposal, the proposed development will only lead to the construction of 50,000 new homes, this number is far lower than the gap of 1,500,000 homes. Thus, this proposal will not address the housing crisis at all.

3) There is no required infrastructure for the proposed new homes.
The proposed new homes will be located far away from any infrastructure and services. Additional costs will be needed to build new roads, utilities, water and sewage to accommodate the homes. It will significantly increase the cost of the homes, making them not affordable, and cause further disruption to the Greenbelt. Further, people living in these homes will be far away from job opportunities, schools, hospitals, groceries, and all other utilities and services, making the current urban sprawl to be worse.

Overall, we should not build new highways to address traffic congestion or build new remote low-density homes to address the housing crisis. The Ontario government should plan to develop vibrant, high-density communities that are close to all job opportunities, utilities, and services to fundamentally address the affordable housing crisis and reduce our carbon footprint. At the same time, the government should devote resources to public transportation so that people can travel conveniently between the communities.