As an urban planner, as a…

As an urban planner, as a citizen, as a taxpayer, and as a voter I am - in the strongest terms - against the removal of Greenbelt protection.

The Greenbelt provides a cohesive, continuous, and protected greenspace for natural life to make their home and transit through. It's a vital piece of our ecology that cannot be replaced or repaired once paved.

Urban boundaries should be firmer, not more lax. Sprawl will not alleviate the housing crisis - it will only further strain municipal coffers as they struggle to maintain infrastructure in low-tax suburbs. This is proven - and when combined with the impacts of Bill 23 will leave cities destitute, broken, and suffering.

The so-called replacement and increase in area of the Greenbelt largely covers already-protected lands and removes some of the most vital and unique parcels under protection today.

Finally, we cannot ignore the ethical dilema of developers who donated to the governing party buying Greenbelt lands at ridiculous interest rates which then "conveniently" were designated as developable months later. The whole deal stinks of corruption and you would have to be willfully ignorant to not realize the illegal flow of capital that is behind this legislation. At the very least an investigation needs to happen, and at best those MPPs responsible for tipping off the developers are arrested and these bills are rescinded.

This legislation can NOT stand. For the future of Ontario's ecology, food security, and municipal financial solvency - this act must not pass.