These proposed amendments…

These proposed amendments would be exceedingly damaging to the integrity of the Greenbelt and could jeopardize the future of Ontario’s food security. They broadcast that land within the Greenbelt is only temporarily protected and that any future savvy real estate development company would be wise to invest in what is supposed to be farmland with the hopes that the provincial government would again decide to redraw the Belt’s borders. This would lead to farmers being priced out of land that is supposed to be reserved for farmers to assist their contributions to Ontario’s food security. In addition, the solution to the housing crisis cannot be to build single family houses at the far reaches of our urban centers that will surely cost more money because they are Greenbelt adjacent, since they are on land that is currently within the greenbelt. Even so, experts like Professor Matti Siemiatycki at the University of Toronto tell us that there is already space in Ontario reserved for development enough to build at least 50,000 houses. Ontario already has major biodiversity loss due to land conversion and protected spaces are one of the only effective solutions to this major problem. That said, the proposed expansion to the Greenbelt should be the only part of this amendment that is implemented. There are already two separate Change dot org petitions approaching 2,500 signatures each and dozens of provincewide protests opposing this proposal. The NDP has also called for an investigation into Greenbelt land sales.