Ontario's Greenbelt Plan is…

Ontario's Greenbelt Plan is based on the vision that includes the government's commitment to permanently protect land designated for :
a. agriculture as the predominate land use
b. natural heritage and water resource systems that sustain ecological and human health, which form the environmental and organizational frameworks for urbanization in south-central Ontario
c. a diverse range of of economic, social, cultural, and spiritual activities associated with rural communities
d.the building of resilience to and mitigating against the negative impact of climate change
Blue Dot Northumberland endorses the findings of over 90 groups and prominent individuals who have had key roles in the development of the Greenbelt, and endorses the “Expanding Ontario's Greenbelt: Getting it Right 2021” report. We request the provincial government include in the Greenbelt expansion the following to achieve the above goals.

1. All land currently in the Greenbelt remains in the Greenbelt. To remove lands and reclassify others as Greenbelt lands is unacceptable because to do so would destroy the Greenbelt's capacity to protect farmland and key natural areas.
2. The work done in 2017 including the BlueBelt proposal should form the basis of new plans to expand the Greenbelt. 
3. Covid-19 has made it clear our government has a duty to protect the public interest including the protection of key natural infrastructure including the Greenbelt. Our province must act to simultaneously improve public health, help farmers create a more secure local food supply, better protect our water resources, and build climate resilience in ways that create economic prosperity by expanding our Greenbelt.
4. There is more than enough land already set aside for development within existing town and city boundaries to meet the demand for all types of housing and businesses until past 2031 because each municipality is required to identify and zone enough land for these uses to at least 2031. For all municipalities, except Toronto and Peel, growth has been less than projected and there are large surpluses of land available for development.
5. Our province must meaningfully consult with Indigenous communities about expanding the Greenbelt within their traditional territories, a constitutional obligation from s.35 of the Constitution Act, 1982.

Your Immediate action

1. Commit to the continued permanent protection of all the lands within the existing Greenbelt area and the expansion of the Greenbelt.
2. Cancel the GTA West Highway 413 and Bradford Bypass.
3. Pass Bill 71 the Paris Galt Moraine Conservation Act 2019 to protect this important area and allow Greenbelt expansion westward.
4. Release the results and maps of the 2017 public consultations on Greenbelt expansion.
5. Strengthen the mandate of conservation authorities.
6. Establish a local public consultation process including representation from the Indigenous communities, residents, farmers and rural land owners to make recommendations regarding the expansion of the Greenbelt in Northumberland Peterborough South.

Longer Term Expansion Process

1. Consult with the public, community groups and farm organizations for input on criteria to be used and lands to be considered for Greenbelt expansion.
2. Honour our obligations to Indigenous peoples.
3. Use material from previous consultations including the Bluebelt proposal.
4. Ensure expansion criteria follows science-based ecological, hydrological and conservation best practices.
5. Ensure economic viability of farming as a predominant land use is a key consideration.
6. Ensure expansion criteria help address structural injustices and inequalities facing marginal groups.
7. Analyze the impact of other government policies on existing and proposed Greenbelt protected lands and develop recommendations to mitigate negative impacts.

We believe some of the most important aspects of the above affecting us in Northumberland Peterborough South include the following:

1. We do not want a spider web of subdivisions, roads, and commercial/industrial sites in the Greenbelt which would reduce the ability of our forests, fields, wetlands to clean our air and water, and absorb rain, of wildlife to move as needed for foraging, breeding, and raising their young, and of plants to be pollinated and disperse seeds.
2. We do not want islands within the Greenbelt with subdivisions, factories and big box stores and their roads, sewers and water lines to cross the Greenbelt to link with towns. 
3. Permanent protection of the land means protection from the government constructing roads, highway and transportation corridors through our farmland. We do not want the 407 to extend across the farmland, wetlands, forests and the Oak Ridges Moraine In Northumberland Peterborough South.
4. Permanent Greenbelt protection keeps farmland affordable for farming. We have many farms where 4 and 5 generations of the same family have farmed and want to continue to do so.
5. We do not want dangerous irreversible precedent set by removing land from the Greenbelt or not extending the Greenbelt to protect all our farmlands.
6. Our settlement areas should be increasing their density before expanding municipal boundaries. Instead of developing the sensitive farmland and natural areas of the Greenbelt we should build complete communities inside the boundaries of Cobourg, Port Hope, Brighton, etc.,
7. Additional lands to be included in the Greenbelt in Northumberland County include the southern slope of the Oak Ridges Moraine toward the shoreline of Iroquois Lake. Also include the Natural Heritage Systems currently being revised in Northumberland County. The inclusion of these areas will protect our farm land for farming, our precious watershed and ground water sources, the cold streams going from the Oak Ridges Moraine to Lake Ontario, our forests and wetlands.