I do not support any of the…

I do not support any of the proposed amendments to the Greenbelt Plan for the following reasons:

1. Whatever housing developments are established will do nothing to alleviate the housing shortage because these houses will be too expensive and too far away from major work locations to be practical for those who need housing the most.
2. The housing that will be built will most likely be low-density and will require all residents to have cars to access everything, making living there even more expensive.
3. There is no cohesive plan in place to integrate even the most basic forms of public transit with this highway and the associated new housing developments.
4. Given that developers had already started buying up Greenbelt land months before these Amendments were announced, and given that bodies such as the Toronto Region and Conservation Authority had their powers of environmental monitoring stripped away from them last year which may have prevented or at least hindered some of these developments, it is extremely difficult to believe that this encroachment on the Greenbelt is purely for the benefit of Ontario residents and newcomers and was not planned long ago - well before the most recent election.
5. These developments will unnecessarily contribute to the urban sprawl of the GTA while also eating up increasingly rare arable farmland, which, given the pace of climate change, will be needed for food production in the future.
6. Our taxes will be used to build Highway 413, the cost of which is currently estimated by outside experts to be at least $5 billion.
(a) That same $5 billion would be better put to use upgrading the Toronto transit system (especially subways - ours is the laughing stock of the world), which would benefit far more GTA workers and residents while also helping to mitigate climate change.
(b) That $5 billion could also be used to buy back Highway 407, the future tolls from which could be used for upgrading public transit
(c) That $5 billion is pretty much guaranteed to balloon to twice that amount, and take at least twice as long the estimated time to build. Meanwhile, the developers will not have to pay development fees, needed by the local municipalities to maintain roads etc. that will see heavier use due to higher populations.
7. As reported elsewhere, there are many other locations in the GTA that are open and available for development that are far less environmentally sensitive and far more practical than the Greenbelt, given their proximity to prime work locations.

In summary, the Greenbelt is an extremely valuable asset to Ontario, far beyond its monetary value to developers. It represents the Province of Ontario's commitment to ensuring good quality farmland, forests, and water supply to Ontario residents, and cannot be replaced by randomly "trading" other chunks of land from other areas.

Most importantly of all, Premier Ford, you are reneging on your pre-election promise to not "touch the Greenbelt". Voters will remember this.