I do not support Bill 23. We…

I do not support Bill 23.

We need to think about food security and how this Bill will harm our farmlands. Land closer to downtown Toronto is more fertile, and while this Bill wants to develop on land that is not Toronto, it is closer to Toronto than Northern Ontario that has more space for developing new homes and businesses than the proposed areas. Ontario needs to be able to grow food locally rather than importing food if we want to keep our import to export ratio in proportion to each other (we currently import more than we export: exports were CAD $197B, while imports were CAD $373B, according to August 2022 data). 1

Once we remove protection from part of the Greenbelt, who's to say that the government, current or future, will not try to remove even more protection rights of the Greenbelt? Who's to say that other laws will not be challenged as a result of this Bill because "permanent" clearly means something other than it used to? The current laws to protect the Greenbelt are meant to last permanently, what does it say to Ontarians if that is taken away? That the promises of "forever" are false? If the government wants to build more homes to accommodate new Ontarians, develop Northern Ontario that is already in desperate need of Ontario's attention. At least this way, Northern Ontarians will have money invested in their communities that has been long overlooked.

Besides, if the developers are going to be exempted partially or fully from the taxes that come with building these homes (because they are building "affordable housing" - according to page 9 under the "Affordable residential unit, ownership" section of Bill 23,

"Affordable residential unit, ownership
(3) A residential unit not intended for use as a rented residential premises shall be considered to be an affordable residential
unit if it meets the following criteria:
1. The price of the residential unit is no greater than 80 per cent of the average purchase price, as determined in accordance
with subsection (6)),"2

and the rest of Ontarian tax payers need to cover those exempted taxes, how is this going to help the economy? More people will have to use their earnings to pay those higher tax rates, meaning that there is less money to spend leisurely. That does not help boost an economy. It means that less people will be spending, causing Ontario to creep further into a recession. Why risk that?