Bill 23 is not the solution…

Bill 23 is not the solution to our housing crisis as the party is leading people to believe, and is an obvious risk to our environmental protection of the Greenbelt. This bill will not address the issues regarding our outrageous housing and rental prices, and the lands and developers being designated for construction do not have legislation or agreements in place to ensure that homes built there will be made affordable to the public. Our number of empty housing units is at an all-time high due to high rental and housing prices, and has made owning a home nearly impossible for most Ontarians. In Toronto alone, the number of housing units not being occupied by residents has risen 40% in the past 5 years. This bill is also working off of the assumption that we do not have enough land within cities to expand with the projected increase in population. However, studies have shown that there is already enough land designated within existing town and city boundaries to accommodate the expected large population growth well past the year 2040 (including 350 square kilometers as of 2019). Furthermore, this bill will result in labour, material, and equipment being reallocated from densely populated areas already proposed for development and where housing is desperately needed, to outside city borders in favour of sprawling and sparse underdeveloped areas.

Our Greenbelt is a vital part of our ecosystem, and once the boundaries of this protected land are sacrificed for development, the integrity of its protection is lost and it becomes a land of possible future business endeavors rather than being integral and important protected lands. There will always be developers looking to take away more and more of it for land swaps once the boundaries of its protection are crossed. The majority of the land proposed to be added back to the Greenbelt is already protected lands that would not allow development; therefore, the land added back into the Greenbelt is nowhere close to that being taken away. In a time of climate crisis and food scarcity, it is not the time to be cutting into lands that are vital to the protection of agriculture, animals, water systems, soil erosion, flood control, disease control, wetland preservation, etc. The proposed pockets for development will result in urban sprawl, requiring infrastructure, roads, sewers, and water supplies to be expanded from surrounding cities to accommodate the expansion. This will cut through additional protected lands, cutting off migratory routes for animals, seed dispersion, as well as endanger land integrity and air and water system qualities.

This bill also dangerously impacts the amount of power our conservation authorities hold when it comes to protecting our lands. Changes to our Conservations Authorities Act will make it so that conservation land may be sold for the purpose of development without permission from the government. It also removes the Conservations Authorities power to reduce sprawl into environmentally sensitive areas in need of protection in order to maintain wetlands, rivers, and stream valleys. "It does this through Section 7 of the Bill, which would amend s. 28 of the Conservation Authorities Act to exempt any project that has received land use planning approval under the Planning Act from Conservation Authority regulations regulating water-taking, interference with rivers, creeks, streams, watercourses, and wetlands, or controlling flooding, erosion, conservation of land.

Sections 8. (3)(a), 8(6)(a), 9 (1) (a), 9 (2) (a) & (b), 10 (4) (a), 10 (7)(a), 11(2)(1), 12 (2)(i) of the Act would remove the power of Conservation Authorities to protect the ecological function and potentially the long-term stability and viability of wetlands. It would do this by removing the power to regulate – and refuse permits based on “pollution or the conservation of land”, and removing the obligation of the minister to consider those matters in appeals."

Furthermore, this bill not only removes the powers of the Conservation Authorities, but also gags their ability to communicate with municipalities due to amendments to s. 21.1.1 and s. 21.1.2 of the Conservation Authorities Act. These changes prohibit them from providing municipalities with the information they need in order to protect their own lands when they consider them for planning approvals. Not only does this bill threaten the protection of the Greenbelt, but all environmentally sensitive lands previously protected and off-limits to construction.

Additionally, the province must consult with Indigenous communities regarding taking areas of the Greenbelt away. It's an obligation that comes from the s.35 of the Constitution Act, 1982, and must be abided by to ensure that their Indigenous and Treaty rights are being adhered to, and their voices heard.

This bill is not aligned with the needs and desires of the Ontario people, and will only serve to benefit the landowners who plan to develop the Greenbelt and protected areas.

Wishing you health and happiness, and a brighter and greener future,