If you don’t care about…

If you don’t care about farmland or the environment I can give you several other reasons why you should be angry about Bill 23

1. It strips the Conservation authority of regulating negative impacts on wetlands/streams and rivers.
2. Bill 23 removes requirements for public meetings and people’s right to appeal - meaning us, the taxpayers, have no say in the development that affects our neighbourhoods. Hamilton has already voted no on urban sprawl - democracy is no longer a thing under this conservative government
3. The rich get richer, while the poor get poorer. The only people who stand to benefit from this Bill are Doug Ford and the developers. Bill 23 may allow for an additional 1.5 million houses to be built but can you afford your property taxes to be even higher? This Bill is allowing for the freeze/waive of development charges that developers would normally have to pay - ie sewer instalment, roads, community centres etc. Now, us, the taxpayers will be on the hook for this instead. Municipalities are already raising the alarm:
Waterloo expects it will cost them $530 million
Mississauga - $885 million. Collectively,
The Association of Municipalities of Ontario said the legislation could leave their members short $5 billion - which the taxpayer will have to foot the bill for
4. It’s not a new theme “Farmers feed Cities” - once this farmland is paved it’s gone forever
5. We no longer have a symbiotic relationship with our wildlife. A few months ago Burlington decided to kill coyotes as they were biting humans - what do we think is going to happen here? The wildlife has no where to go
6. It seems a bit fishy that this protected land was bought by developers (some Even just a few weeks before this bill was passed). Did they know that Doug was going to push this bill? Most of these developers have also donated to the PC party, coincidence? I think not! There has been increased pressure by the opposing parties to have this looked into.
7. Southern Ontario just keeps getting more and more busy. I’m sure you’ve all noticed how brutal it is to drive around any of the cities anymore - there will be no escape once the sprawl happens.
8. We are about to enter a recession - the housing market has and is cooling already. Your property tax is going to go up and your house is going to be worth less.
9. Canada is growing (and has to) but we need to do it in a sustainable way - it’s no secret we are in a climate emergency!
10. Ford’s proposed highway 413 is set to cost $10 billion - maybe he should be spending this money on healthcare and education instead of ruining the greenbelt