I’m confused as to why we…

I’m confused as to why we need to remove land in the green belt to create more housing when we have plenty of land that is already available for housing and perhaps just needs rezoning to accommodate small, 5 storey apartment buildings instead of standalone houses. I have very little faith that all of the developers that bought previously protected land will actually use this chance to create **affordable** housing for people in Ontario. Houses outside the cities, on tracts of land like that, already go for at least 800K — and no one I know can look at that amount of money as affordable. I also find the fact that every one of these developers who suddenly hold land that can be developed are all friends of the Premier or have donated money to his campaign, either as an individual or or through their companies. I’m also extremely worried that this land borders the area that the Premier has said will be the new site of highway 413, the highway that no one in this province (aside from construction companies and developers) seems to want!! I see very little benefit to turning provincial protected land into new housing when there is plenty of other opportunities for building throughout Southern Ontario. There have been studies done that say building on this land would risk environmental damage to any houses or the people that occupy them. Flooding, collapse if they’re on the edge of one of the ravines — the risk of even one of these proposed houses coming down because of a risk that the government knew about before signing off on permission to build there would only show that the government cares more about private profits than they do about the people they are governing. Not to mention the scores of animal populations that would be threatened or decimated by people moving in on their territory — the Greenbelt is a haven for animals as well as an outstanding example of urban greenery and the loss of something that Ontario has touted as a great tourist attraction (I’ve heard lots of people talk about the trails that exist there as one of their favourite reasons for coming to visit!) seems extremely shortsighted to me. In the midst of the latest COP27 and the fact that the world is struggling to fight climate change and keep the world habitable for humans, giving up that much green space is a sign from this government saying that they do not care about any of the promises that they have made to us, the federal government, or the rest of the world. Simply designating other green spots as the ‘new’ Greenbelt is not enough.