This should not proceed as…

This should not proceed as it will result in higher costs to the environment (more flooding), damage to air quality (loss of trees that clean the air), and wetlands that clean our water supply. This in turn would likely increase home insurance costs for the public, increase the use of hospitals due to poor air and water quality, etc.. There would also be more strain on current highway infrastructure that lead up to these newly built greenbelt homes, resulting in loss productivity, more risk of car crashes, etc.. Essentially you are subsidizing corporate profits by funneling tax dollars to developers to build these lands and profit from them when they sell it to the public. These private corporations will also be subsidized when the tax payers need to pay for the environmental fallout of losing the greenbelt. The Ford government was voted in to power based on his promise not to touch the greenbelt, and he is a liar for going back against his word. Building on the greenbelt will result in irreversible environmental damages to the future generation of Ontario. An independent third-party (eg.non controlled by any political party) cost benefit analysis should be performed on the environmental damages, specifically on how much it would cost to recreate the environmental benefits the greenbelt provides to the surrounding area. Then a decision could be made that consists of adding the potential damages AND the development costs to see if it truly is cheaper to build on the greenbelt compared to building condos and denser housing.

If the primary reason to proceed with this is to support housing, then this is an ineffective way to do so. Instead of building outwards, we should look in to building upwards. The costs to build outwards towards the greenbelt requires significant investment in additional infrastructure (eg. roads, plumbing, etc..) which could take decades to do. The housing built from this would only support thousands of homes being built, which you can accomplish the same amount by building more high rises for a fraction of the cost and time.

If this were to proceed, then there should be an agency setup to build the housing instead of letting private corporations do it. Profits gained from building on the greenbelt should go directly to the taxpayers, and NOT private corporations since its the taxpayers that will be funding the construction of the surrounding infrastructure. If its anything like the Eglinton LRT line which has taken decades of construction and gridlock, then this greenbelt construction will need proper planning to ensure no disruption to current infrastructure.

It is obvious the current conservative government is trying to enrich developers that have ties to the party. Transparency and open competitive procurements should take place if the greenbelt land is to be auctioned off to private corporations.