I wish to register my…

I wish to register my complete rejection of the Bill that allows the Government to open the Greenbelt for housing construction. Ford promised not to do this and he is now breaking that promise and using the need for housing as the reason. Meanwhile it has been proven that there is land available within cities to increase the housing stock. Density needs to increase near transit, grocery stores and other established amenities. Get rid of nimbyism without destroying wetlands, farm lands and conservation areas that cannot be replaced and protect not only wildlife but areas, such as Toronto, from flooding.
We can expect more floods with increasing climate change and the Federal Govt. has said it will not help the province with funds when floods occur because Ford opened the Greenbelt. Ford is setting residents and all taxpayers up with increased costs and taxes.

I do not believe developers are going to build affordable houses on the Greenbelt. They make more money doing 3-5K sq. ft. mansions on acre lots. They are not going to build basic rental townhouses or apartments. People who need affordable housing usually don't own a car nor can afford gas to get long distances to work. Defining affordable as 80% of the cost of other houses in the area is ridiculous. 80% of $1.5million or more is NOT affordable for most people.

The fact that developers bought much of this land in the last 4 years and one developer in the last month proves that they were given inside information that it would become valuable or they would not have bought it!! The Government is corrupt and an investigation needs to take place to determine who told what to whom and when. There is a video of Ford speaking to a business/developer group in 2018 saying he was going to open the Greenbelt to development yet during the last election he and Clark promised not to do so. They clearly lied. The situation has not changed.

The feds expanding immigration and the need for affordable housing are not the reasons Ford is opening the Greenbelt. He has other options as stated above. Immigrants are not going to be able to afford these new monster homes. Saying others who buy them will free up more affordable homes within existing GTA is nonsense. The homes buyers will be selling are already priced way above anything that could remotely be called affordable. The people are not stupid. They are furious! Quit treating us like fools and repeal your horrendous Bill NOW.

The lands you are adding to the Greenbelt do not adequately replace the type of land you plan to remove and are concentrated in the town of ERIN. Why? Stop. REPEAL

Finally, removing development fees when builders build what your definition of affordable housing is, dramatically increases Municipal taxes. Existing homeowners have paid their share of infrastructure costs and should not be saddled with exorbitant taxes to pay for the sewage, road, water, park, sidewalks etc of new developments. Local Councils are shell shocked by the costs that are being downloaded to them, by Ford, without any prior consultation. Several mayors have spoken out against this Bill. Your gift of billions to developers is at the expense of hard working citizens and is appalling.

Please listen and repeal this Bill and begin a consultative, democratic process, involving all stakeholders before autocratically legislating change that is destructive in so many ways.