Like thousands of other…

Like thousands of other Ontario citizens, I commend and am thankful for the provisions in this amendment to return the fifteen parcels of land, 7400 acres, to the Greenbelt and restore its boundaries. In a related matter, I am also encouraged by the withdrawal of the directives to municipalities to extend their urban boundaries.

However, I am concerned that The Greenbelt Statute Law Amendment Act, 2023, would open a door for later incursions. As stated in the preamble, the Act, "if passed, would ensure any future boundary changes are made through an open, public and transparent legislative process." That does not acknowledge the criticality of the GreenBelt for agriculture, wetlands and climate change mitigation as temperatures climb to scorching levels and storms become more fearsomely destructive.

Instead, let's take this opportunity to adopt the following modifications brought forward by many environmental advocates.

1) Legislate to change boundaries to add only land over the next ten years and not to remove or allow land swaps.

2) Amend the Greenbelt legislation so that future governments are compelled to consult early and meaningfully with First Nations and Indigenous communities.

3) Restore and enforce the protection of species at risk in the Greenbelt. Prohibit new "Overall Benefit Permits" (a.k.a) "Pay to Slay" that permit developers to harm habitat critical to Species at Risk.

4) Prohibit the licensing of new aggregate extraction applications in the Greenbelt.

5) Protect all prime agricultural lands in the Greenbelt through conservation easements to ensure speculators are dissuaded from purchasing protected agricultural lands in the Greenbelt. Today, conservation agreements protect only 5,000 acres.

6) Immediately end the grandfathering of the previous zoning for future planning applications detrimental to the Greenbelt's ecological, water and agricultural functions. The proposed long-term care facility in King Township on the Oak Ridges Moraine is a case in point.

We look to governments to address these mounting concerns. Ontario has the advantage of having the foresight in 2005 to establish the Greenbelt to protect farmland and natural heritage. In 2023, there is an added urgency to direct resources and planning to mitigate the effects of climate change.

Now is the time to legislate the PERMANENT protection of these lands.