This proposal is critical in…

This proposal is critical in the sense that this significant area is highlighted and brings light to the very fact that we cannot develop the Greenbelt for profit over environmental conservation efforts. Currently in Ontario, many families if not all families are struggling to fight the economic crisis and increase of inflation on all products, services, fuel, transportation, housing, and so on. If we are not able to provide affordable housing currently, how will developing the Greenbelt solve this problem? Many Ontarians and Canadians are facing housing and living costs that we have not seen in the past. If you ask anyone, they are struggling financially to provide for themselves and their families. Developing the Greenbelt is not going to solve this problem, rather, create more problems. If any part of the Greenbelt is destroyed or altered, it will devastate our current need to protect and manage our wetlands and greenspaces, which we have so few of in Southern Ontario as it is. Protecting the Greenbelt is paramount for conserving already Endangered, Threatened, and Special Concern Species at Risk which call the Greenbelt their home. First, we need to address the housing market and crisis we are all facing. With wages at $15.50, it is merely impossible to survive on this alone at a 40 hour work week. So many people who cannot get a better paying job are already struggling to make ends meet and pay rising housing costs. To be able to afford these 1.5 million homes, we need to be paying minimum wage workers more money to be able to balance out living costs which are extremely high. We need to think more long-term for our housing crisis. How will creating 1.5 million homes solve this? Sadly, it will not. This is the issue at hand, which has nothing to do with developing the Greenbelt. We do not need to develop on these lands or alter them at all. Perhaps subsidized housing and affordable living costs and wages are the solution. In order to avoid living paycheck to paycheck, the minimum wage would need to be much higher. $15.50 is not a livable wage and therefore creating more unaffordable homes is not the solution. We desperately need to develop and create housing in areas that are no longer in use such as abandoned lots, unused farm properties, previously purchased lands for development, etc. Taking the Greenbelt, even if it is a small portion, regardless is a poor choice and will not solve our housing crisis. It is clear there is a lot of profitable and dollar value attached to the housing market, but this is not a solution. Hands off the Greenbelt.