Development within the…

Development within the Greenbelt is entirely unnecessary. Official Plans (the guiding documents that direct municipal development over the next 20 to 30 years) have vacant land that is already designated for development to the year 2031. Municipal governments are currently updating their Official Plans which will have development plans designated to meet growth targets to the year 2051. ALL municipalities are directed by the Province to review their Official Plans every 5 years, most are currently being updated to the year 2051. These official plans already have lands designated for development. THERE IS NO NEED TO DEVELOP WITHIN THE GREENBELT!

For years your government has been trying to open the Greenbelt to appease your developer buddies who own huge tracts of rural and agricultural land within the Greenbelt Plan area. Most of those lands within the Greenbelt are either prime agricultural areas (needed for food production) or natural areas (natural hazards not suitable for development or environmental lands necessary for a healthy connected sustainable environment, fish and wildlife protection, flood mitigation etc.) It has become quite clear since you became premier, that you are hell-bent on permitting urban sprawl and unsustainable development while whittling away our prime agricultural areas and our much-needed green spaces. You’ve tried this several times and then subsequently promised us that the Greenbelt will not be touched. And now here we are once again facing destruction of our Greenbelt; your reasoning presented to the public is based on an entirely phony narrative - because houses should be build on lands that are currently designated for that purpose within towns and cities. You know that. I know that. Your developer buddies know that.

Growing the Greenbelt has been on the table (and in the works) for years, long before your government came along. Swapping out Greenbelt for new Greenbelt is not appropriate and growing houses where crops currently grow is wrong on so many levels especially when we have 20+ years of designated lands in our built-up areas within which to grow.

Similarly, and on a related topic, there is no compelling reason to develop the natural areas set aside by conservation authorities as public land, most of which are hazard lands that should NEVER be developed for housing or any infrastructure. Your proposal to develop the Greenbelt and our natural spaces based is sustainable, short-sighted, a slap in the face to all Ontarians, and not in the interest of the people of Ontario.

You are SUPPOSED to be serving the people of Ontario, not your developer buddies! Please cease and desist your intended needless destruction of the Greenbelt. Your developer buddies can grow houses within currently designated lands within the towns and cities, as laid out in municipal official plans