ERO #019-6813 – Review of…

ERO #019-6813 – Review of proposed policies adapted from A Place to Grow and PPS to form a new provincial planning policy instrument.

Additional Submissions and Addendum:

At the original June 6th ERO deadline, this extension until August 4th sounded like a great idea, however, it seems that in these weeks the provincial government has only continued it rampage of destruction of the province for profit at the cost of future generations and the greater public good.

We have seen the housing crisis worsen, with interest rates soaring, affordability weakening, and fewer homes being built - not more. Worse yet - the majority of announcements from the province are for urban sprawl single detached homes unaffordable to most in remote locations far from where people want to live in complete walkable communities near existing schools, amenities, shops, services and employment. We are seeing our Greenbelt needlessly destroyed in extremely questionable decision-making and our climate crisis worsening because the Doug Ford Conservative government has little regard for the environment, climate change, sustainability and has spent five years cancelling the wind, solar, energy, and environmental programs that at one point had Ontario as a global leader. Instead we now have fossil gas plants being built again and extensive pollution and warming forecast.

It is astounding how much this government is moving in the wrong directions and despite the recent promises to cancel the three rural severances absurdly proposed with no public consultation and obviously no forethought, or planning. We need to ensure that these severances are cancelled in every way form and manner and that local municipalities and regional government can continue to forbid land severances like the Region of Waterloo No Rural Severances Less than 80 Acres Policy. The fear is that the government will only cancel them on Prime Ag lands after the considerable protests of all the farm organizations and that they will still be applied to other rural lands. We need to ensure that they are forever cancelled and removed from all lands! Development should only be encouraged in our urban areas - not our farms and countryside.

The proposed definitions to the Ag System and NHS system need to be reverted back to their original forms and the government needs to rethink the entire approach to growth and the PPS.

We need a provincial government acting for the people - not billionaire buddies with the sustainable climate change solutions we need - compact, intensification within urban boundaries in complete walkable and transit supported communities. All new homes and buildings need to be net-zero meeting strict Green Development Standards and we need to ensure that we hit our 2030 and 2050 climate targets. Not miss them wildly which seems to be the current trajectory.

Please do more and do better! Our children are depending on it.

Here's also our original submission:

Premier Doug Ford, Minister Clark, Minister Thompson, other Cabinet Members, MPPs and Staff,

It is with complete horror and astonishment that I am writing to you to state my family’s strong opposition to replace the PPS and Growth Plan for the GGH with a new Provincial Planning Statement.

The changes being proposed are the opposite of SMART Growth, undo decades of good planning, and would allow for rampant urban sprawl, massive farmland loss and completely prevent Ontario from reaching our climate change goals under the Paris Accord.

We need to ensure complete, compact, sustainable, transit supported, efficient communities – not encourage the very automobile dependent, inefficient, 1960’s style urban sprawl that has created our climate catastrophe and destroyed our planet in the first place.

While there is no doubt that we are in a housing crisis, the schemes being proposed by this government are only going to greatly worsen the housing crisis and do the opposite of improving affordability, providing the missing middle housing, and creating the sustainable communities of the future we are going to need.

Worst of all is the completely absurd proposed rural farmland severance policy to allow 3 severances per farm – even on prime farmland for up to a total of 12 homes on every farm. The implications of this are staggering – not only for efficient farming, MDS regulations, and ensuring we can produce enough food to feed our population in the future but even for things like rural schools, infrastructure, highway entrances, the electrical grid, internet and telephony infrastructure, rural hospitals, etc. It has never been anticipated to relocate hundreds of thousands, perhaps even millions of people scattered across the rural parts of the province in the most inefficient manner possible. The implications and costs we will all pay are staggering – particularly compared to the far more sustainable options to properly house people within existing communities where much infrastructure already exists (and may even be currently underutilized) without destroying our countryside, farms, groundwater recharge and natural areas.

It has been clearly demonstrated and become broadly accepted that land for development is not the issue – there is no land shortage – there is decades of land supply already designated in municipalities across the province and developers have been sitting on massive inventories for years as there is no approval expiry and no incentive for them to move forward to meet the market needs – in fact, the opposite by restricting supply they keep prices high and ensure constant demand at premium prices.

The proposed removal of intensification targets and population forecasting is confounding and allowing municipalities to expand settlement areas anytime without and MCR or justification is a recipe for disaster that will bankrupt many municipalities in the years ahead.

The ongoing attacks on our Conservation Authorities and the continued weakening of watershed planning will be looked upon by future generations as unfathomable and will guarantee Doug Ford a place in history as one of the most short-sighted leaders ever to be removing the safeguards and common sense policies put into place to protect people and infrastructure. Much like there are the Darwin Awards currently recognizing people who have done humanity a favour by ending their genetic lineage and removing their not so smart genes from the gene pool, I predict future Ford Awards will be used to describe something done only for greed and profit, defying all common sense, greater public good and even basic human safety in an era of rapid climate change and climate chaos.

Which brings up the absolutely logic-defying removal and weakening of all policies addressing climate change. At a time that the rest of the world is moving forward, increasing resilience and preparing for a very different future, here is our provincial government moving in the opposite direction and dooming future generations.

My family and I urge you for the sake of our children – currently 4 and 6 years old to abandon these confounding, absurd and poorly considered proposed policy changes and go in the opposite direction of providing the sustainable solutions we need for the future, building upon our current world-leading successful planning system, and implementing regulations that will actually solve our housing challenges while preparing our province for the climate crisis we are already facing.

Thank you!