Bill 66 is equal parts…

Bill 66 is equal parts foolish and reckless. Instead of continuing to sustainably attract and retain new talent and employment in urban cores, especially Toronto, the province proposes that its 'economic growth' should be driven by land-intensive, sprawl-inducing production-based employment. This is an economic approach that is thirty years out of date and does not respond to an increasingly highly-educated potential workforce driven through innovation, new technologies, and forward-thinking industry. Bill 66 also looks to subvert the regulations Ontario has in place to protect our natural environment, resources, and farmland; simply said, when it's gone, it's gone for good. It also flagrantly overrides PPS policies that emphasize active transportation, affordable housing, green infrastructure, and climate resiliency. The communities of the future are denser, walkable, sustainable, and ultimately richer with community amenities and infrastructure, social capital, and connectivity. The tactics behind Bill 66 look to the past to claw at unsubstantiated short-term economic gains instead of proactively responding to how our cities, province, and an increasingly urbanizing world are changing.