I am a 24-year-old…

I am a 24-year-old university student from Mississauga who is currently studying in the UK. As a young person, I am deeply concerned about proposals to downsize the Greenbelt. The reality is that young people have an outsized stake in the future of our province. In the UK, I have seen firsthand the benefit of preserving areas of natural beauty. In any major UK city, a Greenbelt is just around the corner. This was legislated in the mid-20th century. While this restricts land available for house-building, it has also created cities of greater density, enabling government to more efficiently provide public services e.g. transport. Furthermore, the traffic congestion of London, UK has damaged its air quality (high PM2.5). This may have unforeseen implications for the respiratory health of its younger population, and may place an additional stressor on health services in the future. The current situation with the 401 expressway and proposed 413 expressway is only accelerating us towards a similar outcome.

I understand that Ontario has a rapidly growing population and also needs to developing housing for this. However, I believe there are numerous other avenues to address this issue without compromising the Greenbelt. For example, we could increase taxes in land in the GTA that isn't being used for full-time residential purposes (e.g. abandoned parking lots, industrial properties, Airbnb, etc.). We could heavily incentivize mid-density housing in the city of Toronto, and put property tax on an exponential scale tethered to square footage of property.

Ultimately, I argue that the government cannot mortgage the future of its young people for a short-term issue. However, blindly developing land through urban sprawl is just that. Young people are often indifferent to politics because we feel that decision-makers do not care for our interests. Please consider how informed young Ontarians feel about this matter - otherwise they will feel further disenfranchised.