This should not be approved…

This should not be approved. The Greenbelt Plan was enacted to provide the following benefits to everyone living in Southern Ontario:

It contains many of Canada’s most ecologically and hydrologically significant natural environments. These natural areas do the following for us:
- clean the air
- provide drinking water
-provide diverse flora and fauna habitats, including pollinators
- provide opportunities for recreational activities that benefit public health and overall
quality of life.

Additionally, the region has some of Canada's most important and productive farmland.
Its fertile soil, moderate climate and abundant water resources support
agricultural production that cannot be duplicated elsewhere in the province and
the country.

How are we planning to provide clean drinking water, some of Canada’s most productive farmland, clean air to residents of Ontario if we remove parts of the very thing that provides us with these irreplaceable resources?

The amendments being made go against the direct policies set out by the Greenbelt Plan. The Greenbelt Plan specifies that "Settlement areas outside the Greenbelt are not permitted to expand into the Greenbelt".

This goes directly against the policy because the proposal is planning to expand a Settlement Area currently outside of the Greenbelt, into the Greenbelt, as shown in the Redesignation Maps in the proposal.

According to Greenbelt Act Subsection 8: Conflicts with Greenbelt Plan:
8 (1) Despite any other Act, the Greenbelt Plan prevails in the case of a conflict between the Greenbelt Plan and,

(a) an official plan;
(b) a zoning by-law; or
(c) a policy statement issued under section 3 of the Planning Act. 2005, c. 1, s. 8 (1).

As a result, although amendments may be proposed if the size of the Greenbelt Land Area is not diminished, the proposal cannot be approved due to direct conflict with the policies outlined in the Greenbelt Act.

Furthermore, the removal of 11 different zones within the Greenbelt cannot be replaced by 1 single addition. This is fundamentally flawed from an ecological perspective and there is no explanation whatsoever that describes how a single addition to the Greenbelt will make up for the removal of 11 zones within the Greenbelt in terms of productivity of the land.

Why have we not looked into utilizing the land that we already have within cities instead of resorting to urban sprawl? Can we please realize that urban sprawl only creates more congestion, air pollution, and removes the green space that we need to live? In Hamilton, for example, there are so many empty parking lots left vacant. We should be looking into developing those areas, not protected green space that provides us with clean water and air.

This proposed amendment is short-sighted and does not take into account a long-term vision of how Ontario should be built. What we should be doing is developing lands that are already within our city boundaries, expanding and investing in public transit, and moving away from urban sprawl. Urban sprawl only amplifies our dependency on highways and cars which are the very things we need to move away from to sustain a healthy population of humans now and into the future.

Please reject this proposal before it is too late. Because eventually, there will be no more Greenbelt left to remove, it will be all gone. And at that point, we will have no clean water or a reliable source of food. No amount of housing can replace those basic necessities of life.