The Standing Committee on…

The Standing Committee on Heritage, Infrastructure and Cultural Policy,

I'm writing to submit a comment as part of your ongoing consultation regarding Bill 23.

As currently written, Bill 23 would be a disaster for Ontario. As the climate crisis worsens, wetlands are essential to stave off expensive floods, and farmland is increasingly valuable - yet this bill would decimate both.

We badly need to build more homes quickly - but they need to be built where existing infrastructure exists, increasing density and protecting against sprawl. This bill as currently written would instead commit Ontario to decades more low-density sprawl, which is ultimately less affordable, more ecologically damaging, and less economically viable.

It is difficult to understand, and deeply concerning, that this bill seems to avoid useful measures while instead prioritizing short-term pillaging of essential protected lands. Frankly, the legislation as written is irredeemable, and I urge the committee to do all it can to scrap it and start over.