The Greenbelt Plan is…

The Greenbelt Plan is supposed to provide permanent protection to the agricultural land base and the ecological and hydrological features, areas, and functions within the Greater Golden Horseshoe and beyond. Removing lands from the Greenbelt Area to support the plan to build 1.5 million homes is not taking a balanced approach to smart growth, it is promoting suburban sprawl. According to The Housing Affordability Task Force, ´´ a shortage of land isn’t … the problem. Land is available, both inside the existing built-up areas and on developed land outside greenbelts.´´ Building outside of existing urban boundaries is not ´smart growth’; in fact, it will waste resources (construction materials, tradespeople, etc) that could be put to better use increasing density within urban boundaries, especially around transit hubs.
According to The Greenbelt Act, when seeking amendments, consultation is required with municipalities, conservation authorities, the general public, and Indigenous groups. The timeframe is very short, especially considering municipal elections have only recently taken place with some councils not yet sworn in. Clearly, other consultations HAVE been taking place, at least since 2018 when Premier Ford said himself, ´´I’ve already talked to some of the biggest developers in the country … it was their idea … they said give us property and we will build on it’´. Developers such as the De Gasperis and Baldassarra families, Fieldgate Homes, the Rice Group and more will benefit after recent purchases of GB land. And other developers are already lining up for their parcels. This is a shameful and unnecessary land grab that will ultimately destroy arable farmland and environmentally sensitive land only to benefit land speculators and promote sprawl.