The current atmosphere of…

The current atmosphere of hysteria around building houses is choked with bad thinking. The Federal government announced this year a 25% increase in the number of new immigrants to Canada. In 2021 a surprise relocation found a significant number of new residents opting to live in the Maritimes. Montreal, Vancouver and Toronto may not be the most selected places for new residents in years to come.
In our area, Stouffville, the projection over the next 30 years is 42,000 new residents. Mayor Lovatt ever happy to put concrete on the Greenbelt and Oak Ridges Moraine, is giddy with action having already put shovels to ground for 4500 new single dwelling homes. This blunt action ignores the more ecologically sensitive Smart Growth, toted by everyone as the way to go: high density, medium height buildings with offices that preclude car trips, close to public transit to minimize the impact of CO2 emissions.
As you know, CO2 is 79% of the greenhouse gases currently causing climate change. And interestingly the number one way to combat this is through green living things: plants, shrubs, bushes, trees.
That is what is at stake in Doug Ford's plan.
The science that went into creating the ORMCP has not gone the way of the Dodo. If anything, the imperative to protect these designated sensitive ecologies has increased with the rampant increase in Climate Change: read environmentally disaster.
His notion he can wipe out environments that have developed over hundreds of years in response to the direct forces of nature to create the best, clean balance of air, water, and soil and simply redesign where those life forms will grow, in other words take away thousands of acres of protected land and simply 'replace' them shows an appalling lack of understanding about the environment, how plants grow, how water systems work and how air may be cleansed. His lack of knowledge is an embarrassment. All Ontario should hang our heads in shame.
From more educated people, those who understand ecological truth: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/environmental-impact-greenbelt-p…
“Winfield says the "hardening of surfaces," due to the construction of roads and buildings where there were none before, affects how that land can then interact with water systems, how groundwater is recharged, how runoff works and the provision of habitats…He says such changes generally make the problem of flooding and storm water worse, because a natural ecosystem would have fed the water back into the system more slowly, but a hardened surface leaves the water with nowhere to go.
Winfield says the more we fail to protect source waters and recharge areas where drinking water comes from, a core purpose of the Greenbelt, the more pathways are possible for contaminants to get into drinking water. This should be of concern to everyone who drinks Lake Ontario's water at home, he says.”
And this government backtracking on its own statements is nothing new: https://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/2022/11/09/greenbelt02.html
“In its February report, the province’s own housing affordability task force laid out many recommendations to facilitate home construction. Building on environmentally sensitive lands was nowhere on its list of suggestions. That’s because there’s no shortage of land, it said.”

In this year with Pakistan under water, Jackson Mississippi drowning, Hurricane Ian wiping out Florida's panhandle, just to name a few, and with the governments of the world meeting currently at COP in Egypt it is a world embarrassment for Doug Ford to announce this.
But let's look at economics: what will it take for Florida to get back on its feet? How much money will be needed from humanitarian agencies to try to offset the loses in Pakistan? Who will pay for Jackson Mississippi? How will insurance companies, reeling from the destruction of houses, offices, roadways help people pay to rebuild and what happens to insurance costs in future?
Climate Change is real and it concerns ALL of us. No one is better than, no one is above, no one is more than, no one is free from or safe from the effects.
The best we can do is protect every bit of green space we have on behalf of all of Ontario now and in the future and on behalf of the rest of the planet.