This plan as it stands is…

This plan as it stands is pro-sprawl. The plan to support ontario's expected population growth through sprawl (that will likely only serve single-family homes) without efficient regional rail will only make congestion worse. In order to support this growth via sprawl, there will have to be additional infrustructure likely in the form of freeways and road ways. This is not a sustainable form of growth as this form of infrastucture costs nothing to use but hundreds of millions of dollars to build. Currently the buisiest highway in Northa America is the 401 through Toronto. To think that we can continue down this path without a significant cost to the environment, health, and wellbeing of Ontarians is short sited.

Toronto can support a signficant amount of additional desnsity (through middle housing, triplex, fourtplex, low rise condos). The density of Copenhagen is 7,900 inhabitants per sq km, whereas Toronto is only 1,050.7 per sq km, yet Copenhagen does not have a high rise in sight (see: https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2021/as-sa/fogs-spg/page…). As Toronto, and other metropolitan regions in Ontario (e.g., Peel, Ottawa) have more infrastructure in place to support this growth, this is where we ought to focus much of this development.

The more we build for sprawl, the more it will contribute to congestion, and costs on individual households (if you live in a car infested suburbia, the more cars you need and the less services are close by). Building around cars even reduces the amount of property tax revenue to the province as opposed to traditional, pre-1960s development (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Nw6qyyrTeI&ab_channel=NotJustBikes). Finally, it is important to note that density/ mixed used planning is much more productive and allows municipalities to stay finantially solvent, whereas sprawl/ car-dependant development backrupts cities (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IsMeKl-Sv0&ab_channel=NotJustBikes).

As an individual who currently rent's in Toronto, but wan'ts to purchase a home in the city with room to raise a family, there are currently no options for me. It is no suprise that there is a net decrease in families in Toronto due to it's poor land use planning (https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2022/02/06/fewer-and-fewer-young-child…).

I really hope Ontario moves in the direction of building cities, communities, and neighbourhoods more around people and less around cars. Not only has the former been shown to be better for wellbeing and financial stability, it will allow those who choose to remain in car-dependant neighbourhoods to enjoy their commutes with much less congestion. Efficiency is better for everyone, and their pockets.