I stand opposed to the…

I stand opposed to the government's amendments to the Greenbelt plan for a number of reasons:

1) If this was a plan the government truly thought was in the public interest, then they should have made that clear to voters, rather than using random platitudes like "Get it done."

2) If the idea behind cutting into the greenbelt is to make land available for housing, there are plenty of experts making it clear that this is a bad idea. What if we were to begin rezoning everywhere where a big box store has closed up and has just remained vacant? There are so many creative ideas that don't involve sacrificing farmland (like the Duffins Creek wetlands).

3) Building 50 000 homes (as per Minister Steve Clark's claims) where we had natural space is going to cover porous land up with concrete. There are plenty of examples, even within North America, of how this has increased flood risks, particularly in floodplains, which will not be more vulnerable due to the circumventing of Regional Conservation Authorities in Bill 23, which is now law.

4) The provision that developers have to show significant progress by 2023 is even more egregious, because even if we could trust that developers would put the public good before personal profit, they will be rushed, through the conditions of the amendment, and will be unable to put the time into assessing the damage and risk that could come from their plans.

5) The rivers valleys you have promised to protect are already protected, so this is an inappropriate, and frankly insulting proposition.

6) Ontario had a working process for development: conduct an environmental assessment and then proceed under the recommendations of the assessment. If this is worth doing, it is worth doing right.

7) You cannot carve pieces out of the belt and replace them with random pieces elsewhere. This is not how migration corridors work and with the proposed Highway 413, this will put species at risk even further at risk of extirpation in Ontario.

8) No one is asking for this. Despite the assertions of the Minister of Housing that only "Nimbies" are against it, farmers, environmentalists, municipalities that will be touched by the changes,and First Nations groups are all protesting these changes. It would seem there is a large enough coalition of varied interests in opposition to these changes that one could reasonably call it antidemocratic, and perhaps even autocratic.

Once we pave over greenspace, we will never get it back. The economic value provided by cleaning air and water, as well as preventing flooding, and contributing to local ecological biodiversity far exceeds any to be gained by cutting in to the greenbelt, particularly in a time of erratic, unpredictable weather and increased flooding.

Please make a responsibly choice and spend more time talking with stakeholders before removing any land from the greenbelt.