I am not in favour of this…

I am not in favour of this bill because of the reimposition of some urban boundary expansions. In particular, the urban boundaries established by the Region of Waterloo should be maintained. A lot of time and effort went into designing the Official Plan and it involved consultations with many stakeholders. A large supply of rural land is already designated for development. Furthermore, the Region of Waterloo has some of the best farmland in the country and it should be protected. Focusing on development in rural areas instead of urban centres will lead to more sprawl which produces expensive homes that are not what is required in the current housing shortage.

I am also not in favour of amending the Environmental Assessment Act. While the amendment is billed as a way to streamline the process, it appears to just be a means to push ahead with controversial highway projects like the 413 and the Bradford bypass. Disregarding the need to thoroughly assess the environmental impacts of such projects will certainly have negative impacts of the future health and well being of our province because of the unnecessary destruction of natural areas and farmland.