Doug Ford and his…

Doug Ford and his Conservative administration is out to sell our watersheds to the Cortellucci family. This plan is entirely corrupt, and proof that he lied to the entire province in 2018. This will NOT sold the housing crisis and it will NOT make housing more affordable - this is entirely to make his donors, namely many of his favourite developers, richer.

Watershed and natural resource management are critical functions of conservation authorities. Infinitely more now during the climate crisis. I have lived in countries where I could not safely drink from the tap. Growing up in southwestern Ontario, our family basement flooded multiple times. Why? Developers had been allowed to build in a floodplain. Two years ago I watched large parts of my neighbourhood flood from a thaw in February. This will only increase.

New homeowners do not deserve to live in a home build in a flood zone. Flooded home risk mold and other contaminants from the water that comes in. New homeowners won't have access to natural ecosystems for their children. Infill development and re-zoning within existing cities will meet the needs for more housing.

Farmers also need healthy watersheds. Ontario has some of the best farmland in the country, and with it, food security. Ford's plan for the GreenBelt screws over farmers too. They depend on the ecosystem services that the GreenBelt provides, water filtration, clean air, pollinators, biodiversity and flood mitigation.

I am a taxpayer, a voter and persistent. This disasterous plan needs to be stopped. Return the powers back to Conservation Authorities - they actually look out for all of us.

We are the public. We have solidarity with education workers, with nurses, with unions. You will not sell our future out from underneath us.t