I want to show my…

I want to show my disagreement with Bill 23. It will greatly negatively impact the Ontario Heritage Act, the Planning Act, and the Ontario Land Tribunal Act, as well as environmental protections.

I have been a renter for 12 years and I understand and acknowledge how important it is to have more housing, and affordable housing. However, heritage and environment protections are NOT barriers to growth, and in fact they are extremely important to continue to ensure that our communities can live fulfilling lives.

The impact of this bill on the environment especially is extremely worrying. There is no reason we cannot coexist with the important natural spaces that exist today. This bill quite frankly is just a way to push forward new regulations that will allow the developers and cities to make a quicker and bigger buck off of our disappearing natural spaces and will have a massive negative impact for future generations living in Ontario.

Among its potentially devastating effects, Bill 23 will give Ministerial power to override heritage protection, cripple the Heritage Register by making it impossible to keep a property listed for more than two years, change the criteria required for heritage designation of buildings and districts, and eliminate third-party appeals to the Ontario Land Tribunal by community organizations and residents -- only developers and municipalities will have that right.

Leveraging the housing crisis to cut through hard-won heritage protections, and crucial environment protections, is not a solution.

As the saying goes about nature, "when they go, we go". I implore you to consider the short and long-term ramifications on your own families and communities in the future, of permitting this bill to pass.