I would like the government…

I would like the government to take note of the high level of public disapproval of nearly all aspects of Bill 23 and revoke it. Bill 23 seems likevery poor policy indeed: facilitating the taking of land specifically set aside to protect its agricultural capacity, scenic and historic value and environmental importance (including flood protection) and handing it off to real estate developers. Why then, is such a thing at the heart of this bill? Ontario is already hard pressed by climate change in the form of major fires and floods. Further, there are very disconcerting ethical questions attached to Bill 23. It has been fully documented that developers with a direct interest in these previously protected lands are significant donors to the Ontario PC party. It seems to me that the profit motive of a handful of developers has been placed before the long term best interests of Greenbelt communities. This opinion has been supported in recent days in opinion pieces and feature articles in The Toronto Star, The Globe and Mail, the Narwahl and several other major media outlets. Architects and urban planners recently signed an open letter condemning Bill 23 in Canadian Architect magazine. Alternatives exist according to a number of commentators in the fields of housing and urban/regional planning. It seems this bill uses the urgent, even disastrous, state of housing in Ontario as a camouflage for gifting a liberalized regulatory environment to the development industry. Environmental experts have been quoted widely on social media and elsewhere saying that damaging the Greenbelt's natural systems is a grave mistake. Again, Bill 23 seems almost deliberately designed to do such damage. The more I learn about Bill 23 the greater it seems like corrupt madness. Stop it dead. It will damage our beautiful province permanently and do little to help us meet out housing needs.