The “Green Belt Policies”…

The “Green Belt Policies” state that they were designed to protect “Ontario’s …. farmland,
communities, forests, wetlands and watersheds” (Green Belt Plan, 2017). However, the Green
Belt does little to protect Niagara’s Wetlands because only 4.6% of our remaining wetlands are
located within the Green Belt boundaries, leaving 95.4% outside the planning protection area
(Fig. 1). This means in the case of Niagara the Green Belt is pushing urban development into
direct conflict with our remaining wetlands and our highest biodiversity areas.
This also means the protection of 95.4% of the remaining wetlands in Niagara depends upon
the provincial policy statement, Niagara Region environmental policies, municipal policies,
Conservation Authority regulations and policies and the Environmental Impact Study (EIS)
process.

This bill and its proposed updates to the Ontario Wetland Evaluation System will not protect the remaining wetland but rather eliminate what little remains and allow changes to made without the knowledge and expertise that we need to put forward to protect what little we have left.