The nature of this…

The nature of this redesignation was never discussed during the recent election. This government promised numerous times that they would not touch the Greenbelt or the Oak Ridges Moraine. This government does not have a mandate from the people of Ontario to develop on the Greenbelt or the Oak Ridges Moraine.
To truly solve the housing crisis, the Province should focus on land in existing urban areas that is close to transit and services people want and then focus on the 88,000 acres of land in the GTHA that are already designated for development.
Removing 7,400 acres of farmland and natural areas from Greenbelt protection will not solve the housing crisis and will create a whole new set of problems:
Harming Ontario’s food security by reducing our ability to grow fresh local food.
Destroying land that provides key ecological services like flood protection and carbon sequestration that we will increasingly rely on as the climate crisis worsens.
Setting a destructive precedent that Greenbelt protected lands will be sacrificed when land speculators want to develop them therefore creating an ecologically damaged “swiss cheese” Greenbelt;
I do support adding more lands to the Greenbelt, including urban river valleys.