While I appreciate the need…

While I appreciate the need for more housing in the Hamilton-Guelph-Cambridge areas, it is not worth the environmental impact on these areas that removing these Greenbelt protection designations will incur.

Green space, untouched and protected, will only get more valuable to Ontario as the changes in our climate get more severe.

Building UP and not OUT, reducing the sprawl while providing affordable rental units and affordable condos, will be a much easier way to help Ontarians with the housing crisis. It will provide a better life for both new Ontarians and those who grew up here and appreciate the natural spaces we have protected for so long.

We the taxpayers did not spend all this time and money protecting these areas for over a hundred years just to clear cut them in a panic over short term budget goals.

Ontario's goals should be to build enough affordable places for people to live a good Canadian life close to their jobs. The goal should NOT be to provide an ongoing source of investment growth for developers and detached home millionaires so the richest can increase their wealth gap and force more commuters onto highways.

We absolutely must achieve these goals while being stewards of the irreplaceable natural world. Think long term, and realize the value that protecting these existing areas will bring to everyone.