The proposal to use parts of…

The proposal to use parts of the Greenbelt to construct housing, with the empty reassurance of replacing that land with acreage in other areas, reflects a fundamental lack of understanding of how natural heritage systems and green infrastructure work. Linkages and buffer zones as well as the wetlands and woodlots themselves cannot simply be transplanted to another area that frees up land that developers have purchased so that they can clear it and build on it. Mature trees cannot be replaced by seedlings and saplings, groundwater cannot be re-routed at will, plants cannot be made to thrive equally in all soil.

Further to this, the housing that the particular developers in question are looking to build is in no way affordable. The public outcry you are hearing from across the province should make clear that Ontarians are seeing Bill 23 for what it is, and that you would be wise to reverse course from this incredibly ill-conceived and short-sighted piece of unethical and unconscionable legislation.