Environmental Registry of…

Environmental Registry of Ontario ERO #019-6813
Proposed Provincial Planning Statement changes

Housing focused policies are not producing housing.
Government interventions are making housing less affordable. The interventions have had the same results that government interventions in the economy have always had. Counter effective results. It worsens the problem. This has been the subject of several books by Dr. Thomas Sowell.

1.Generate increased housing supply

Requiring municipalities to support redevelopment of plazas and shopping malls.
These properties are dominantly owned by pension funds and Real Estate Investment Trusts. These landlords do not pay any income taxes in Canada. This benefits private equity, at the expense of Canadians.

Aligning growth with infrastructure needs. This in in the wrong order. It is much more expensive to grow erratically. We should follow good planning practices. Spotty growth is expensive. Only someone that is not paying the bill, would consider this a reasonable idea.

Developers must pay for growth. Local ratepayers must not pay for this infrastructure to serve the businesses of developers. Developers do not share their profits with the people of Ontario. Ratepayers must not pay the infrastructure costs of developers.

Requiring municipalities to collaborate with publicly-supported post-secondary institutions planning for student housing.
This serves private equity.
The colleges and universities are perpetrator number one on causing shortages in housing. These institutions invited international students to study in Ontario without bearing any responsibility for where their students will reside. This caused severe shortages in the communities that hosts these institutions. This sector has been irresponsible.
We must not reward bad actors with requiring municipalities to collaborate with them. We need stricter rules for universities and colleges.

2. Make land available for development
The Housing affordability taskforce reported we already have enough land to meet the targets of building 1.5 million homes.

“Municipalities to undertake settlement area boundary changes at anytime” is strongly opposed.

Agricultural land must continue to be protected. This is vital for any society to sustain itself. Humans need food, water, oxygen. Appropriate and planned land use plays a foundational role in our survival.
This has been demonstrated through the dekulakization of Soviet Union 1930-1933. Farmers were stripped of their lands and the entire country that relied on the foods produced by these farmers were starved en mass. Estimates of between 5-8 million people died.
This agricultural interference was repeated by China by their Great Leap Forward between 1958-1962.

3. Provide infrastructure to support development
Growth must pay for growth. Reallocation of servicing paid for by one party to benefit another party is inappropriate. This will result in consumers demanding billions of dollars in refunds from the municipalities and the boards of education.
The municipalities cannot afford this.
This is an administration nightmare that must not be entertained.

4. Balance housing with resources
Requiring municipalities to protect provincially significant projects is not what municipalities do. The municipalities serve the needs of the local population.
Municipalities must not be steered by the province.

5. Implementation

Applying an equity lens- the equity of the existing ratepayers, must not be shifted as the equity of the corporations benefitting from new development.

Farmland must not be expropriated for speculators or for economic public good.

Developers must pay their own costs, and for the infrastructure to tie in the projects they profit on.

I am strongly opposed to the updated proposed Provincial Planning Statement.

These updates will not generate any significant housing supply.

Agricultural lands must be protected.

The Housing Affordability Taskforce states that there is enough land available to meet the provincial goals.