Doug Ford must be stopped…

Doug Ford must be stopped from opening up the Greenbelt for development. Only 5% of Ontario is arable land. Under Doug Ford's leadership, we are already losing 319 acres of farmland per day to sprawl development. The Greenbelt protects our drinking water and is incredibly important farmland. The Greenbelt accounts for 53% of Ontario's fruit acreage and 11% of Ontario's vegetable acreage.

Homegrown local food matters. Food inflation is currently an enormous problem for average working Ontarians. Destroying the Greenbelt and limiting the amount of produce which is grown locally will further increase our food costs.

Home inflation and affordable housing are also important. While it is true that we need to build 1.5 million homes over the next 10 years to reduce the affordable housing crisis in Ontario. There are already 86, 000 acres of vacant land within the city limits of Toronto and Hamilton alone. We do not need to develop on the Greenbelt. It is unnecessary and only motivated by greed. We all know that affordable housing is not going to be built on the Greenbelt. It will be expensive housing for the wealthy.

The land deals made leading up to the announcement of developing on the Greenbelt makes it clear there is corruption. Protected land being sold for 80 million dollars two months before the announcement to develop on the Greenbelt must be investigated. No one would pay that amount of money for land unless they were certain that it was going to be opened for development. Corporate records show that the company director is Michael Rice and the address is the same as that of the Developer Rice Group. This company and Rice himself have donated some $15,000 to PC party including Premier Doug Ford’s leadership campaign.

This is just one example of this pattern. Nine of the developers, that own land that is to be removed from the Greenbelt, donated more than $572, 000 to the Conservative party. These developers bought the protected land at a cheap price and now Doug Ford has made it so they can profit immensely.

There must come a time when people in power are not permitted to blatantly profit from corruption. How can we claim to be part of a developed democratic country when one of our provinces' premiers consistently makes undemocratic and corrupt actions?

Do not pave over our Greenbelt.