I am deeply concerned about…

I am deeply concerned about the proposal to develop land in the Greenbelt. In short, the very purpose of the Greenbelt was to protect waterways, farmland, and ecosystems that exist within it. Removing the protections in this area to serve further urban sprawl is a direct contradiction of the Greenbelt's purpose.

To elaborate, the Greenbelt is already a provider for Ontario. The waterways provide us clean drinking water, the farmland provides us food, the natural growth of forests provides us with a buffer in our fight against climate change, and the land itself provides a home to much of the wildlife in the area. Not to mention that the land provides protection against floods by absorbing rainwater from severe storms.

When we designate land for development in a protected area like the Greenbelt, we are (both literally and figuratively) opening up the floodgates. When the first domino of protected land falls, it is only a matter of time until more and more is paved over. Not only would the development of these plots of Greenbelt land take a toll on our natural resources in the short term, but it would also set the precedent for more and more of this land being destroyed in the future resulting in even more severe damage.

Urban sprawl is not the answer to the housing crisis in Ontario, much less is it the answer when the proposed development site already serves such a vital purpose for our province. Rather than sprawling outward, we should be focusing on building upward. Preventing sprawl into our protected areas and creating more housing in less space is a win-win for everyone.

This proposal is not in line with Ontarians want. In fact, it is fairly safe to say that nobody in Ontario voted for this government to take these steps to develop the Greenbelt. The current government's election platform pledged to reject all proposals to develop the Greenbelt. Therefore, there can be no voters who supported this government who want this course of action. This is all to say nothing of the fact that this government stands to profit from the sale of this protected land to developers, or that it is far more expensive to develop land that is not well connected to existing infrastructure.

This proposal is a unilateral attack on our farms (and, therefore, our economy), the quality of our drinking water, our protections against the effects of climate change, and most importantly, against our province. To be clear, this proposal should be rejected.