Thank you for the…

Thank you for the opportunity to provide a comment on this legislation.

Please do not use valuable wetlands to solve the housing crisis. We need to use the space we have in municipalities to build more housing, and we need to build more affordable housing, not large houses that very few people can afford. This will only lead to more debt for Ontarians and do nothing to achieve our climate mitigation goals.

Furthermore, we should be empowering conservation authorities to do their vital work of protecting our environment, as we are in the midst of a climate crisis. We can help the climate crisis by keeping our valuable green space. This will also help with flooding, and the less flooding homeowners have, the less costly it will be in the long run.

Please see some suggested amendments below:

In Schedule 1,

REPLACE "(2) Subparagraph 2 iv of subsection 114 (5) of the Act is repealed" WITH "Subparagraph 2 iv of subsection 114 (5) of the Act is repealed and the following substituted: matters relating to sustainable design, if an official plan and a by-law passed under subsection (2) that both contain provisions relating to such matters are in effect in the City."

REMOVE "(3) Subsection 114 (6) of the Act is amended by adding the following paragraph: 1.1 Exterior design, expect to the extent that it is a matter relating to exterior access to a building that will contain affordable housing units or to any part of such a building."

In Schedule 9,

REPLACE "(2) Subparagraph 2 (d) of subsection 41 (4) of the Act is repealed" WITH "Subparagraph 2 (d) of subsection 41 (4) of the Act is repealed and the following substituted: matters relating to sustainable design, if an official plan and a by-law passed under subsection (2) that both contain provisions relating to such matters are in effect in the municipality."

In Schedule 2,

REMOVE (2) Section 21.1.1 of the Act is amended by adding the following subsection: (1.1) An authority shall not provide under subsection (1), within its area of jurisdiction, a municipal program or service related to reviewing and commenting on a proposal, application or other matter made under a prescribed Act."

REMOVE "(2) Section 21.1.2 of the Act is amended by adding the following subsection: (1.1) An authority shall not provide under subsection (1), within its area of jurisdiction, a program or service related to reviewing and commenting on a proposal, application or other matter made under a prescribed Act."