Hello I want to express my…

Hello
I want to express my total opposition to the diminution, as proposed, of the protection granted to the GREENBELT AREA:
- the present Greenbelt Area is the result of many efforts, of much consultation and compromise, it is a minimum of protected area. It can be added to - as proposed with the Paris Galt Moraine lands - but no land should be removed from it.
- the Greenbelt Area constitutes a whole. Its integrity should not be attacked. Removing a parcel here, a parcel there weakens the whole system. Replacing these parcels with others elsewhere is no solution. It is not an issue of quantity, of a total area but of a continuous area needed for environmental or agricultural reasons. And first "exceptional" removals dangerously lead to the next "exceptional" ones and soon the whole protected area falls apart.
- it is totally irresponsible to pave or build on agricultural lands of first quality located near a metropolitan area in full expansion. Once these fields are paved on, they are gone forever at a time when the region needs more food and produced as close as possible to where the people live.
- the reason advanced for the dismemberment of the Greenbelt Area - the need of space to build more homes quickly - has no serious base. Municipalities, planners and other experts have clearly stated that enough lands have already been put aside for municipal expansion for years and years to come. No need to seize lands on the Greenbelt.
- the only beneficiaries of the proposed attack on the Greenbelt seem to be the owners of those targeted parcels of land or of the lands next to them. These developers could expect substantial profits from the government proposal. It is very strange that some developers bought those lands recently, when, because of the protected Greenbelt Area, they were supposed to have no or little commercial value. The proposed amendments to the Greenbelt would change that dramatically, and so suddenly.
- the proposed changes to the Greenbelt are a total reversal of a promise by Premier Doug Ford who had emphatically declared that his government would not touch the Greenbelt. I heard the people of Ontario, he said, they told me they do not want that. The polls show that the people of Ontario have not changed their opposition, far from it. The government's proposal is a shocking betrayal of public trust. How can we believe any other statement from this government ?

--- To summarize: I am categorically opposed to the proposed weakening of the Greenbelt Area: it is a transfer to private interests of lands protected for the public benefit of Ontarians for generations to come. The present housing crisis is a convenient but false justification for such a drastic change; no substantial amount of affordable housing is even guaranteed. The people most in need are forgotten!

Thank you for your attention. I am from Toronto and follow the news.