To whom it may concern, I…

To whom it may concern,

I am deeply concerned about the proposed amendments to the Greenbelt Plan. As it currently stands, Ontario’s Greenbelt is some of the most biodiverse, arable, and thereby, important land in Canada which must remain protected. Some of the world’s most unique ecosystems are contained in the current Greenbelt and remain to this day to the protection of the land. As a result of the Greenbelt as it currently exists, we have beautiful ecosystems including the Niagara Escarpment, the Oak Ridges Moraine, and many more unique to this province. Not to mention Ontario’s uniqueness of the precious Mixed Wood Plains, which is already one of Canada’s smallest ecozones. If the proposed amendments come to fruition, these integral elements of Ontario’s biodiversity will be lost for good, all for imminent greed.

Additionally, the Greenbelt is imperative to the functioning of Ontario’s watershed due to the many river systems, wetlands, freshwater, and wildlife who rely on the current Greenbelt’s to exist. As is apparent in recent years, the rapid wetland loss in Ontario is already having negative impacts on our ecosystems. All that is currently left of this vital habitat to many living beings in Ontario are protected by the current land-use policy of the Greenbelt, which would be destroyed by the proposed amendments. The attempted justifications are in bad faith as the previous land currently protected as the Greenbelt cannot simply be replaced with land elsewhere. The land that is being proposed to be removed from the Greenbelt is important land we will not get back. The land that took millions of years to become as biodiverse as it is today will cease to exist with the aforementioned amendments. These ecosystems and agricultural land are already vulnerable in their current state but to completely remove them for development in bad faith is deplorable.

While supposedly under the pretence of increasing affordable housing to address Ontario’s housing crisis, the proposed Bill 23 will not achieve this. As previously mentioned, the proposed replacement of the Greenbelt includes waterways and wetlands. By building over these currently protected zones, the potential housing here would be subservient to flooding, increased insurance, increased damages, and overall issues in urban planning regarding stormwater management systems, precipitation absorption, and structure longevity, to name a few. As it stands, the Greenbelt not only prevents dangerous housing development in these areas but maintains Ontario’s precipitation absorption and flow rates.

Spending numerous amounts of money, particularly mine and every other Ontarian’s money, towards unsustainable development does not aid anyone. This guise of affordable housing will also prove to be a farce as not only will these potential houses be in flood zones, they are unlikely to be any more affordable than current housing prices. Likewise, the sudden removal of these currently protected lands in a short period of time is concerning due to the years of planning it would take to ensure land susceptible to flooding is built on adequately. I do not believe this is going to happen if developers intend on beginning immediate development, thereby furthering the potential damage these proposed amendments would cost.

Lastly, increasing sprawl in attempts to address the housing crisis is not a feasible, long term solution. Instead of potentially wasting vital land, resources, and tax dollars to serve those who will be benefiting from these proposed amendments the most (developers), I hope to see Ontario invest in affordable high-density development, thereby addressing housing needs, environmental concerns, and socioeconomic issues. We need the Greenbelt, Ontario needs the Greenbelt.

Thank you and I sincerely hope you consider these comments,

A concerned Ontarian