I am a young voter, and like…

I am a young voter, and like many people my age, environmental safety is my primary concern. While those who are likely to die naturally within the next few decades may not consider the ramifications of overdevelopment, the protection of the Greenbelt is a matter of life or death for us who will suffer the consequences of continued environmental degradation.
Premier Ford has said that development on the Greenbelt is necessary to solve Ontario’s housing crisis. As of 2021, Ontario has over 438,000 vacant homes. Like most who came of age after the 2008 financial crash, I will likely never own property. This is not because of a lack of housing. The housing crisis is the fault of landlords and owners buying up properties and raising rents and purchasing prices far beyond what the properties are actually worth. If the GTA were not so completely beholden to landowners, we would be able to buy housing for its actual value. This is something that the government has the ability to change through legal measures, and would be far easier than the destruction of vital natural land.