The Honourable Steve Clark…

The Honourable Steve Clark
Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing
777 Bay St.
Toronto, ON
M5G 2E5

Dear Minister Clark:

Re: ERO 019-6216, Proposed amendments to the Greenbelt Plan

I wish to express my strong opposition to the proposal to permit housing developments within the Greenbelt.

The Greenbelt was established to protect critical wildlife habitat, wildlife corridors, headwaters of streams, significant wetlands, the sources of drinking water for millions of Ontarians, and the agricultural land base that provides a significant food supply for the region. Its importance continues to increase as the populations of the GTA and surrounding urban centres grow and the climate change crisis accelerates.

The 2017 Greenbelt Plan identifies “where urbanization should not occur” in order to provide “permanent protection” for important agricultural and ecological and hydrological features. The areas that have been identified in the plan must be respected and protection must be permanent.

There is already plenty of land that has been identified to build housing, as stated by your government’s Housing Affordability Task Force earlier this year. It appears that the only reason for the proposed Greenbelt development is to enrich developers who have recently bought up significant portions of the proposed development lands.

So please protect all of the Greenbelt from housing developments, as you and Premier Ford have both publicly promised.