Together, Bill 185 and the…

Together, Bill 185 and the proposed Provincial Planning Statement threaten the Greenbelt and our agricultural lands even more than the 2021-23 Greenbelt controversy did. This government just keeps on steamrolling to get its way which helps developers get rich without solving the affordable housing crisis.

Home ownership will be more expensive. Various factors in the proposed Bill will favour urban sprawl in greenfield lands. These will be mainly in areas that do not already have appropriate infrastructure for housing. Such sprawl subdivisions typically have oversize, expensive houses and car-based transportation. We need more housing where people already live, so that the infrastructure is already in place. Greenfield development of expensive houses will draw workers and materials from intensification developments. The proposed Bill will make heating with fossil gas the default, at a time when fossil gas heating is increasingly found to be more expensive than using modern heat pump technologies.

Greenhouse gas emissions and other pollution will increase. The proposed Bill will make it easier for Enbridge Gas to build new gas pipelines. Instead of that, we need to get off fossil fuels like gas. Heating with gas is not just polluting, it is more expensive than heat pumps for home heating.

Natural systems and farmland will be undermined. The proposed Bill could diminish lands such as wetlands that are carbon sinks, as well as prime agricultural land.

Democratic engagement is interfered with. The proposed Bill 185 Cutting the Red Tape is an omnibus bill, combining and impacting many other pieces of legislation and policies. Beyond housekeeping, convoluted omnibus bills like this work against democratic involvement. In effect, and ironically, it is a form of red tape interfering with the ability of citizens and their representatives to understand the proposals in a timely manner. Appeal rights and local planning authority are undermined or removed.
Various pre-existing formal review processes, such as environmental reviews, are reduced or deleted.

While there are some good points in Bill 185 there are so many problems with it that it should be withdrawn.