In the Oak Ridges Moraine…

In the Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Plan, 2017, it is stated in the introduction that “The Greenbelt Plan, together with this Plan and the Niagara Escarpment Plan, identifies where urbanization should not occur in order to provide permanent protection to the agricultural land base and the ecological and hydrological features, areas and functions occurring on this landscape and found within the Oak Ridges Moraine.” The words “where urbanization should not occur in order to provide permanent protection” must be taken at face value.
The Greenbelt should not be changed except to add to it. Over the last 200 years we have irrevocably altered the ecosystems around us. We cannot get them back so we must protect what we have left. That’s what the Greenbelt was created for. There must be space for other species besides humans, not only for their sake but for ours. We cannot survive without nature.
We also need farmland close to where people live. It is imperative that we preserve the farmland we still have in order to feed our own population into the future when it may not be possible to import as much food as we do now.
The Greenbelt should never be diminished, only expanded.