Dear Ministry of Municipal…

Dear Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing members,

While I understand the need for more homes in Ontario due to the ongoing housing crisis, I do not believe the solution lays in expanding into our greenbelt. I believe the emphasis of building homes should lie in the quality of the types of homes built (affordable, efficiently built housing), not the quantity of ever-expanding subdivisions. It is incredibly important to be as efficient with the spaces we have as possible, and to leave our green spaces intact.

As you point out in your proposal, these spaces are immeasurably important to us. They feed us, and filter our drinking water. Not to mention the impacts of such an increased population on such sensitive areas. As leaching substances from areas of high population would find themselves in our waterways. I'll leave a link to adverse effects of subdivisions (link #1).

Furthermore, per a study by the UofT, the building of additions houses will not impact the housing crisis nearly enough. More is needed to be done, such as the types of buildings rather than the amount. (link #2)

While I agree, that the addition of the Paris Galt Moraine is a great idea, this should be a separate bill. That area is incredibly important to filtering groundwater which feeds the Grand River, and keeping the water tables at proper level. (link #3)

All this aside, I believe that the integrity of a politician's promises during campaigning should be kept. This is an issue that was promised to be untouched, and now we see that this was not true (link #4).

Please reconsider this bill.

Thank you for your time, and I hope we can make Ontario better.