The way in which the Ontario…

Much of this applies to the “More Homes Built Faster” initiative in general.

Ontario did not invent the concept of a Greenbelt and this government would be wise to learn from those who have gone before. Chief among those lessons is that this kind of reserve is not to provide a reservoir of development land. Like Mike Harris giving away the 407, Doug Ford will give away development rights to Greenbelt lands. The consequences will escalate with time and both men will be reviled for decades to come by the people of Ontario for committing us to bad deals.

Perhaps our greatest opportunity in Ontario is to shift away from the unrelenting focus on growth in the Golden Horseshoe. With or without Greenbelts, the province would be much better served if economic opportunity was fostered in other municipalities. While this government loves to trumpet a vibrant economy, they can only say that by ignoring the vast majority of the province. Coming from Kingston, it should be obvious to Minister Clark that most cities beyond the Golden Horseshoe have suffered badly in recent decades. And yet economic policy, transportation policy, infrastructure of any kind, is driven exclusively by a desire to bring more business and more people to the Greater Toronto region. Why on Earth are companies like Amazon encouraged to build facilities in the region to employ tens of thousands of workers for wages that don’t meet the cost of living. They set up in Bolton or Georgetown, clogging traffic, yet not even providing transit for those low wage workers. In London or Peterborough or Kingston facilities like that would be better for the towns, better for their employees (and better for Amazon if they weren’t so myopic).

In case it isn’t obvious, my point is when we debate how to squeeze more people into the Greater Toronto region, we are having the wrong debate. Your objective as a government, and your most effective strategy to relieve pressure on this region, is to do the job the rest of Ontario is entitled to. Drive policy, investment and lifestyle opportunities toward municipalities that have the most to gain.

The way in which the Ontario Government chooses to engage with the public in its efforts to urbanize the Greenbelt is laced with such cynicism that there hardly seems any point in voicing an opinion. However, in the hope the sheer numbers might make an impact I will try to add my voice in opposition.
Let’s start with the label of cynicism:
It starts with outright lies during elections that this government would respect the Greenbelt.

Which, to be fair, was an obvious lie from the outset, given that the service area for a planned highway 413 would reach deep into Greenbelt lands.

The iteration of Greenbelt realignment before us now is clearly skewed to benefit very specific friends of the Ford Government. It is so bold-faced and blatant one wonders why the rest of the building industry is not raising cries of favouritism. Of course, that industry knows very well that this is only the first of an ongoing series of similar moves to degrade the Greenbelt. Everyone will get their share in time.

Against this backdrop of indifference to what the people of Ontario might wish, we are told to submit feedback to the Ministry of Environment. Clearly that is a branch of the government that has abdicated its obligation, or at a minimum has been excluded from decision making on this issue.

Even the so-called information provided on the website is designed to deceive. The maps presented there have almost all the area inside the Greenbelt shaded in grey without a legend to explain. The insinuation is that all that grey space is already developed. You know that is false. I know that is false. But clearly the intention is to deceive most of your audience.

The entire campaign by the Ford Government to attack the Greenbelt is laced with denial of facts, refusal to consider alternatives, papering over mistakes of previous Conservative governments, and ultimately outright lies. It makes this effort to participate in democratic process feel like a waste of time.