Good afternoon, I am a…

Good afternoon,

I am a student who has lived in Ontario for a better part of their life and am absolutely appalled by the government's proposal to "amend" the Greenbelt Area boundary regulation. I feel it's very short-sighted given the current state of our global environment and it will be a detriment to not just our current and future residents and citizens of this country, it will also be a detriment to our country's global image.

When people think of Canada, especially Ontario, they don't just think about major cities like Toronto or Ottawa, they think about our massive forests, our fresh-water lakes and rivers, our capability to easily visit natural spaces like the Greenbelt Area and be in touch with the earth in a deeper manner. To develop the Greenbelt is to eradicate what makes Ontario unique compared to other provinces, especially given how most of the province is on the Canadian Shield, which doesn't allow for much natural growth anyway so to remove what is presently available is to deprive anyone the ability to truly appreciate our province.

As mentioned earlier, our current natural environment is also at stake with this amendment, and despite the provincial government's promise of promoting and protecting our natural spaces, this directly contradicts these promises and initiatives. For example, in regards to the sudden sharp decline of the American Eel population that was once naturally so plentiful they could found as far inland as Algonquin Park as well as several other species of flora and fauna that are local to this province, the Ontario government established the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in 2013 to indicate efforts to protecting their natural habitats, only for the CWF (Canadian Wildlife Federation) to report that they have done nothing to truly uphold their end of the Act.

What this amendment will do in tandem with such reports like the CWF's research is erode more trust from the province's people from the government, and given other frustrations like the CUPE strikes due to lack of proper payment, the Metrolinx strikes due to lack of job security, the lack of proper housing due to inflated rent prices across all major metropolitan cities like Toronto, lack of access to food due to inflation, the collapse of our healthcare (which has historically been praised around the world for the fact it is not privatized) and many other issues that are currently ravaging this province, it will reflect terribly upon your party. Your party may have won the election, but the province is acutely away how much your party's approval has been dropping since the pandemic.

I urge you not as a benefactor or a detractor, but as a fellow Ontario resident who wants this province to thrive and continue to thrive, to please reconsider this amendment and instead focus on more pressing infrastructure, for example the housing crisis. We have so many empty office buildings and warehouses due to so many people working from home, you can easily re-purpose them into homes and shelters especially given how cold our winters can be. Toronto especially is having a shortage of shelters for their residents due to high rent prices and low temperatures, and given how it is by far one of the most populated cities in Ontario, and how many people pass away every year due to lack of housing.

I will conclude this with some few final words: You're not the only one living here, just because our currency is colourful doesn't mean you should let our province be drained of any natural colour.