I do not support Bill 23…

I do not support Bill 23. While I do support gentle-density developments and planning for public transit, I do not support stripping municipalities, conservation authorities, and the public of the ability to consult or challenge development plans. That is giving way too much power to developers and giving the public no control at all over their communities. This is supposed to be a democratic society. Why did we have a municipal election if our municipal government is now useless and their growth plans are meaningless?

I do not support cutting corners and silencing voices, reducing the requirement for parks, or having existing taxpayers cover the cost of infrastructure for new developments. People want to live in communities, not just houses. It is already known that denser, downtown communities subsidize the cost of infrastructure for low-density, sprawl suburbs, yet you are forcing communities to build more sprawl.

We are dealing with a climate crisis, yet you want to develop environmentally sensitive lands, when even engineers and architects (the people who like to build things), are saying it's a bad idea.

This is supposed to be an era of reconciliation, yet indigenous communities have not been consulted and are speaking out against your actions. Reconciliation starts when you stop stealing and destroying land.

We are dealing with a housing crisis, yet the PCs were unable to provide any explanation for why you are not building the 1.5 million homes on the 88,000 acres already approved for development, nor can you explain why you are not following the recommendations of your Housing Affordability Task Force, or ending exclusionary zoning. I also fail to understand how any of this guarantees that housing will be more affordable. I think it is much more likely that we'll be seeing signs advertising premium lots on what was once the Greenbelt. There is also a workforce and supply chain involved in building homes. Overriding municipalities won't make homes magically be built faster. There are land and permits approved for developments, but construction hasn't started, so I don't see how this legislation will help.

Bill 39, Bill 23 and the Greenbelt amendments are so blatantly wrong. You are trampling democracy, ignoring the public ("the people have spoken...we won't touch the Greenbelt"), putting communities at risk, and continuously misleading the public. For example, stop justifying development into the Greenbelt by saying you will add more land, when the land you want to add is already protected.

The PCs are creating a dangerous precedent for all of Canada by consistently silencing democracy. Save our farms, save our Greenbelt and save our democracy - repeal Bill 23.