This is completely the…

This is completely the wrong approach to sustainable economical development. It will increase taxes and the resulting cost of living for surrounding communities while building housing that is for the wealthy.It will not solve housing for the rest of the population especially new immigrants. The amount of greenfield land already designated for development, and added to municipal settlement boundaries, but still sitting unbuilt far exceeds what is needed to meet long range housing targets. That includes 86,000 acres within the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area alone. According to Ontario’s Housing Affordability Task Force, “a shortage of land isn’t the cause of the problem … land is available.” The Task Force further advised that “Greenbelts and other environmentally sensitive areas must be protected, and farms provide food and food security. Relying too heavily on undeveloped land would whittle away too much of the already small share of land devoted to agriculture.” Make profits for the wealthy land developers that bought real estate cheaply 2 years ago while costing taxpayer dollars.
Rezoning in areas of the suburbs so more rental units and condos can be built near existing services would be a sustainable approach..
Land swaps put the entire greenbelt at risk .. these lands were already part of the government’s previous Greenbelt expansion proposals – the Paris-Galt Moraine in 2021 and the Urban River Valleys in 2022. Those proposals went nowhere, despite great fanfare at the time.
The government is on video record saying they will not touch the greenbelt after caught making promises in secret to developers.. This is disgraceful and shows that this goverment cannot be trusted with taxpayer dollars and citizen interests..