1. My biggest concern is…

1. My biggest concern is groundwater protection.
Many communities and individuals rely on the groundwater of the Galt Paris Moraine for their drinking water. This precious resource must be protected at all costs.
Better that we have poor quality roads than poor drinking water. Driving on poor quality roads is a choice. Drinking poor quality water is not. Good water is necessary for life -- for us, as well as the plants and animals with whom we share the Greenbelt.
Thus, new aggregate extraction should be prohibited throughout the Natural Heritage Area within the Greenbelt and outside the Greenbelt as well.

2. I also worry that some municipalities may actually lose protective ability if they are absorbed into the Greenbelt, e.g. Waterloo Region, Cambridge, the Grand River watershed.
So, a provision of any Greenbelt expansion must be to allow and respect local policies which provide greater protection than proposed Greenbelt policies for water quality, environmentally sensitive areas, species at risk, etc.
If environmental protection levels will fall, then I cannot support Greenbelt expansion.