A proposal and a shared…

A proposal and a shared thought: I think you are missing an opportunity to be a hero and a trailblazer. There are so many derelict contaminated old industrial sites that could be cleaned up and developed rather than eating into our precious forests, farms and greenbelt. I have heard you have a nice cottage on a lake and I think about how fiercely you would defend drastic over-crowding and detrimental changes wiping out local nature that you appreciate. Let's tell the truth maybe even to Ontario, we have a population problem and unless we address it, we can't grow infinitely until Windsor to Montreal and Lake Ontario to Lake Superior it is just house after house and cities sprawling endlessly (There will be no amount of highways to mitigate that kind of future population and scope). Adopt more cautious immigration and settlement plans like Quebec, where we preserve Ontario nature and culture. There will still be lots of development opportunities for business in places within current city boundaries where you can be heralded as a visionary without so much opposition. In my opinion you just have too many yes people around you currently that want to agree with the first idea you give, rather than inform you with the best idea to make you popular with the people who likely voted against you as well as the people who helped place you in the position you are in today. Be a hero to all of us and move away from changing the Endangered Species Act and building another highway (instead buy back the 407 and make all highways relatively decent priced tollways, so intercity traffic is billed/ taxed in a manner that is reasonable, fair and pays for the 407 to be brought back to Ontarians). Instead of encroaching on the Greenbelt, why not make Ontario the biggest farming community again by instead placing incentives to have more smaller farms to bring down grocery prices locally. Lets have only Ontario fruits and veggies in our stores and so much so that even local foodbanks would get a share. Let's bring sustainable eco-tourism to our already renowned natural beauty rather than bulldoze it and lose access to those resources forever. There will always be another place for a home or a building but forests and farmland take thousands of years (real science) to grow and develop in a productive way. This can be the legacy you leave as a politician. Either more buildings and houses (boring) and less of the Ontario we all grew up with or you can choose to maintain the culture that made us who we are today, honest hard working farmers, nature lovers, clean lakes and forests brimming with animals and nature who are protected for our enjoyment and for the future generations of your kids and grandkids etc.

Thank you for your consideration

Another Doug