Do not remove lands from…

Do not remove lands from Ontario’s Greenbelt.

The entire purpose of a greenbelt is to prevent development on the lands within it forevermore. This ensures that once lands are captured within its boundaries, all that these lands provide and represent ecologically, culturally, and agriculturally is “locked in” in perpetuity. For a greenbelt to work, one cannot simply mix-and-match lands within it and outside of it at will. Why even have such an entity if one only intends to eventually rip it apart? All that mixing and matching accomplishes is the eroding of that which was not supposed to be eroded when a greenbelt was formed in the first place.

There is more than enough land currently available in Ontario to build housing. Done intelligently, Ontario will be able to provide housing for people for decades to come within these available lands. Unfortunately, it seems that politicians have developer friends who will benefit financially from constructing houses using the destructive models of yesteryear. Why would these developers have purchased lands in Ontario’s Greenbelt in the first place? In principle, these developers should have had no interest in these lands as they should have been of the understanding that they would never be able to build on them. However, not only did these lands interest them, these developers put their millions of dollars where their mouths were. An observer is forced to conclude that these developers purchased these lands because, behind the scenes, they must have known that these Greenbelt lands would be made available for development. Shame on the province for so incredibly effectively nurturing the cynicism everyday people have when they conclude that their governments do not reflect their interests. If a government cannot steward irreplaceable resources and features – as, it has been made clear time and again, Ontario’s government cannot – then the only other reason for such a government to exist is to legally sell out those resources and features to connected interests.

The people of Ontario can see through whatever excuses are presented to attempt to justify development on Greenbelt lands. Ontarians recognize these excuses for the ruses they are.

If Ontario genuinely wanted to make more housing available for people, one place it could start is to repair and expand its famously broken Ontario Landlord and Tenant Board. Many people with the means to make rental units available – because, for example, they could buy, build, or already own, potentially rentable properties – choose not to do so because they do not believe it is worth the risk to contend with potentially problematic tenants when there is no timely and functional tribunal to quickly and effectively sort out problems. This is at least one place where Ontario could improve housing accessibility. There are many other such places.

Building on lands presently within the Greenbelt is, in contrast, the absolute last place Ontario should be looking to solve its (created) housing problems. It only says to the people of Ontario that proposals to remove these lands are not really about solving housing availability problems, but are instead about making money for a few well-connected developer friends.

Do not remove lands from Ontario’s Greenbelt. The people of Ontario see you.