I disagree and oppose the…

I disagree and oppose the announcements made on Friday, Nov. 4, by the Doug Ford government about imminent changes to housing policy as they have massive implications for just about everything to do with land use in Ontario. It is wrong to compel the city of Hamilton to expand its urban boundary. We need surrounding natural and agricultural lands. We do need or want city sprawl.

If you want more houses, how about build them in Northern Ontario or send them to Saskatchewan. Aren't they looking for residents? We are over populated with traffic issues that more housing will make worse. We have displaced wildlife that are attacking humans. More housing will make this worse. We are paving paradise and have flooding issues. More housing will make this worse.

Once you pave over the 90 per cent of this land which is prime agricultural land, we can't get it back. When you say OOPS, my bad, we have no food, you can't put it back the way it was. Over a third of it is also protected Greenbelt, which you, the Progressive Conservative government has now opened for development after repeated promises not to. STOP! Keep your promises. The Greenbelt has been protected for a reason. Leave it alone.

Ford, your government’s directive purposely overrides what Hamilton city council decided to do with its own borders just last year. The city’s decision was made after a year-long public consultation process that saw physical surveys mailed to every resident about the future of development. Some 18,000 responses were received, 90 per cent of which were votes against expanding the urban boundary to allow for more single-family housing. Instead, Hamilton residents opted for intensifying development within the city over the next decade.

For you, the province, to use your muscle to override this strong consensus is beyond concerning.

The timing of this announcement is also suspect: you did it right before municipal elections, when councillors and mayors were deep in campaign mode and councils were “lame duck” state. Clark, you knew they were unable to do any municipal business such as respond to your letter. Dirty pool, old man!

To make things worse, you dropped this bill Just as new and re-elected municipal politicians were beginning orientation week in November, this government posted its housing decisions on Ontario’s public environmental registry. Most southern Ontario councils hadn’t been sworn in yet, and so were unable to formally meet. Again, not fair, underhanded and unprofessional.

Why have municipalities go to the work of creating an official plan if you're going to make irreversible, devastating amendments? How can you allow new development that is not required to clean up contaminated sites before building? Will your family be living there? And why would you remove remove or reduce limits placed by city councils on the number of housing units that can be developed within existing neighbourhoods?

Every city in Ontario will end up like Mississauga. No land. Traffic snarls. A place many of us deliberately avoid living in or even visiting. And I bet you don't live there...why would you? It's awful. A shining example of what NOT to do.

These changes will lead to bringing in new residents faster than municipalities can provide sufficient greenspace, transit, sewer capacity and other services.

You are planning for developers. They are businesses. They don't live here and they don't care about complete neighbourhoods, greenspace or quality of living. They are in it to make as much money as possible. You should be their conscience or at least let municipalities say no to letting them run amok and ruin our communities and neighbourhoods.

The democratic implications are immediate and the broader negative effects will be long-term. Ontario is one of seven regions in the world where more food is grown for export than import, and this government’s decisions for Hamilton and Halton Region puts that economy — as well as the province’s food security — under threat.

Your housing bills have left my stomach turning. Perhaps I'm already feeling the hunger pains that no food will create. I need to feed my family. Don't you? What good is a house if the environment has been destroyed and we're all starving to death?