The plan to remove protected…

The plan to remove protected land from the designated Greenbelt area is incredibly concerning. The greenbelt’s natural system supports ecological and human health throughout Southern Ontario. As one of the most biologically rich areas, this is essential for our ground water, food sources and tourism industry. The Greenbelt prevents flooding, mitigates climate resilience and provides a home to over 78 at risk species. The Greenbelt affects the quality of drinking water for more than seven million Canadians, prevents $224 million per year in flood protection and offsets 71 million tonnes of carbon each year. Most importantly, the Greenbelt has over 750,000 acres of active farmland and provides 68% more revenue per acre on these farms than other Ontario farmland. Ontarians cannot eat pavement or live in areas where climate change has exacerbated extreme heat and flooding, allowed to run unchecked.

When the greenbelt was designated an important biological area to be protected in 2005 the idea of swapping land was not included. Once the land protection is removed from any section there is the risk that further land will be removed in the future. The 9,400 acres of land proposed to be added into the Greenbelt already have protections as river valleys. Removing land from the Greenbelt goes against all conservation efforts and will cause a snowball effect in future generations. The people of Ontario have spoken again and again, and we are not for developing the Greenbelt.

Sprawl is expensive for municipalities and will cost taxpayers greatly. The subsequent loss of prime farmland which employs nearly 130,000 people and generates 50 billion in revenue for Ontario will only be a further determent to the Ontario economy. The greenbelt itself brings 9.1 billion in annual revenue to the provincial economy through business activity. Ontario needs affordable housing, developing the greenbelt is not the answer. It destroys an important area and economic asset to the province and does not provide the required housing communities with accessible resources built in a sustainable manner. Ford promised Ontario that he would not develop the Greenbelt the Ontario voters believed this falsehood only to be tricked and lied too. This government has failed and disappointed the people of Ontario by even considering amending the Greenbelt plan and I hope the right decision will be made to protect future generations of Ontarians.