Re: Proposed Amendments to…

Re: Proposed Amendments to the Greenbelt Plan ERO 019-6216

I am writing to voice my opposition to the Proposed Amendments. They are flawed in several ways, but at the core, they are based on a false premise – namely the lack of available land for housing.

There is plenty of land. The Ontario Housing Affordability Task Force made that very clear in its report earlier this year in this key phrase - ‘but a shortage of land isn’t the problem’. Just as importantly, it noted that greenbelts and environmentally sensitive areas must be protected.

A few years ago, the Neptis Foundation released a report that also acknowledged the availability of land for development within the Greater Golden Horseshoe. It identified over 125,000 hectares - most of which is in Designated Greenfield Areas adjacent to built-up areas with existing infrastructure – available to meet housing and employment needs to 2031.

Similarly, in the synopsis to his 2017 study, the respected planner Victor Doyle asserted that the Greenbelt Plan has not ‘constrained the supply of land for or planned supply of ground related housing’.

Recently, a number of jurisdictions including Halton Region and Hamilton (which incidentally voted to maintain their urban boundaries and demonstrated that their growth requirements could be met with careful and innovative planning) had an additional 13,750 hectares added for growth. This area is several times larger than the Greenbelt parcels at stake and will add a proportionately larger number of homes.

Given the critical role that the Greenbelt plays in maintaining healthy and thriving woodlands and wetlands and the obvious value of the high quality farmland it contains, carving it up when there is abundant non-protected land available near existing built-up areas is completely unnecessary and irresponsible.

Premier Ford in the past repeatedly stated that he would respect Ontarians’ wish to leave the Greenbelt untouched. He was right then and should do the right thing now by retracting these proposed amendments.