The government of Ontario…

The government of Ontario needs to take a hard look at the way it manages land in the province. Currently, every time we begin to run low on land supply for housing & development, we simply add more land. This is unsustainable. Unsustainable means it cannot be sustained, i.e. cannot continue. Sprawl is bad economics. Paving over forests and farmland is bad economics and environmental decision-making. So why do we continue? On our current track of relentless land consumption, all of Southern and Eastern Ontario will be sprawl. It’s inevitable with our current planning policies.

It’s time Ontario begin to lead the world in smart urban growth and land conservation. Create PERMANENT city boundaries. Eliminate single-family homes. Make intensification, gentrification, and affordable live-work-play scenarios the norm. Promote vertical living, local food production, and car-less transportation. Implement policies that make green roofs, grey-water capture systems and micro solar and wind power production mandatory in all new construction. Raise taxes on sprawl, parking lots and big box developments; lower them on dense housing, green developments, and land conservation preserves.

The world is facing unprecedented crises: COVID-19, unprecedented turmoil and social unrest around the world, and climate change. Ontario needs to be a leader in a NEW way forward, not just more of the same.