This Act and the proposal to…

This Act and the proposal to withdraw 15 areas from the Greenbelt and require that they be planned in great haste and then developed at warp speed –
Is nuts.

There are 88,000 acres of land designated for development around the GTA. Within this there are many areas that meet the criteria specified for choosing these 15 sites.

The only apparent unique identifying feature appears to be that the 15 properties are partly or wholly owned by individuals and corporations that are connected to the Conservative Party through donations, lobbyists or monetary contributions to the Party or members thereof.

The rational cited for entertaining such haste is that there is a housing crisis. There is an affordability crisis, which is recognized in the foundational document for this exercise (“Housing Affordability Taskforce Report”) as not arising from a shortage of land available.

As to a shortage of housing, the housing market has recently convincingly demonstrated that there is no a housing supply crisis. Sales are down inventory is up and the demand slump is so pronounced that a major developer is closing sales pavilions. (1)

The trigger for this supposed crisis is the prospect for increased immigration as proposed by the Federal Government. However Ontario Municipalities have recently completed a Provincially mandated review of lands available for housing over the next 30 years. Thus there is an ample supply of land available to accommodate any conceivable immigration influx in the near to middle future.

This gives time for a process to prepare a Careful, Considered, Consulted, Planned approach to future immigration surges.

There is no excuse for the Premier to run around like his hair is on fire, and throw out: the Bathwater (perceived excess regulations); the Baby (Environment, Greenbelt, Farmland) and the Mother (Democracy).

This Act, and Bill 23, 39 etc, together constitute a concerted campaign to preferentially benefit a specific subset of corporate interests (developers) while materially disadvantaging virtually every other public and private interest.

There is a definition for the political process where the interests of the Government and corporations are “so close you cannot fit a cigarette paper between them” to quote a notorious Italian politician from the previous century.

There is a consensus between a wide variety of experts, commenters, sectoral bodies (municipal, agricultural, professional), analysts, labor and environmental groups, First Nations, and others that this Act, and Bills 23, 39 etc WILL NOT achieve the stated objectives, and are highly likely to have serious adverse effects.

This Act is unnecessary, counterproductive, and an egregious and arbitrary abuse of power.

I request and require that it be withdrawn.

1.Greaterfool.ca
November29th 2022
“ There are lots of houses for sale. Months-of-inventory numbers in major markets are heading steadily higher. Mortgage origination volumes at the big lenders have plummeted. The country’s largest builder has seen sales fall 65% and closed development sales centres. Real estate boards in Vancouver and Toronto report deals have tumbled by about 45% year/year, and are running drastically below 10-year levels. It’s evident there’s more inventory than there are buyers. The market is wobbling because of demand, not supply.”