While I support the…

While I support the inclusion of the Paris Galt Moraine and public lands within urban river valleys, I believe a much more ambitious approach is needed to protect precious farmland, groundwater and natural areas across the Greater Golden Horseshoe (GGH) and build the region’s resilience to climate change.

I urge you to use a science-based approach to expansion that will:

• ensure safe and abundant drinking water and local food for the region’s 9 million residents;
• sustain local ecosystems and biodiversity; and
• optimize resilience to climate change impacts such as flooding and drought.

To this end, I recommend that expansion include: all moraines within the GGH; private lands as well as public lands within urban river valleys; coldwater steams, wetlands and headwaters; the former glacial Lake Algonquin and Iroquois Shorelines and Plain; and the Lake Simcoe basin and northern Simcoe County.

In keeping with your promise not to remove lands from the Greenbelt, I also ask that the government cancel plans to build Highway 413 (GTA West) and the Bradford Bypass (Holland Marsh Highway), which will damage existing Greenbelt lands and accelerate sprawl.