I have been a rural resident…

I have been a rural resident in Elgin County all of my life and a farmer/landowner since 1993. I am now at retirement age and have aquired a wealth of knowledge that I have shared with all of my grown children. To me, it would make perfect sense that I should be able to sever a small lot from my farm and pass it on to one of my children so that they could keep on living where they have grown up and would love to raise their own family, right here on our family farm. From what I have seen in my life and through personal experience, children who have been able to stay on home-farm properties tend to be hardworking, reliable taxpayers, good stewarts of agricultural lands, supportive to their parents allowing them to stay active in the farming community and out of retirement and nursing homes for decades longer than would be otherwise, and tend to settle in for the long term raising their families on the same ground that they were raised on with plans for their own children to do the same. As it is now they have to move far away to an area where real estate is cheaper and more affordable, leaving our aging generation to fend for ourselves. And worse yet with current real estate valuations at such high values, some of my grown children have no opportunity to even enter the housing market. To build on a reasonably priced lot would open the door to owning a home that otherwise would only be a dream. Perhaps if the current plan to sever 3 lots per farm is found to be excessive, why not plan to allow for 2 lots per farm or even 1 lot per farm. One or two lots severed from my farm would impact our production very little, these lots would undoubtedly grow gardens with fresh fruits and vegetables lessening our depedence on store bought foods, children would help aging parents stay out of long term care facilities and remain productive members of our farming communities, and municipalities would increase their tax base with added tax paying residents. I here by support the Ford government in their proposal to promote and encourage rural lot creation on agricultural land. Thank-you