I am a student from Central…

I am a student from Central Peel Secondary School, located in Brampton, Ontario. The recently proposed amendments created to the Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe have been brought to my attention. I specifically do not support amendment 1.2, which is further amended by deleting “, a clean and healthy environment” and “social equity” and replacing it with “an approach that puts people first”. I would like to state my concerns for the following changes:

It is further amended by deleting “offer a wide variety of choices for living” and replacing it with “have sufficient housing supply that reflects market demand and what is needed in local communities”.
It is further amended by deleting “long-term” and deleting “net-zero” and replacing it with “environmentally sustainable”.
It is further amended by deleting “low-carbon” and replacing it with “environmentally sustainable” and deleting“, with the long-term goal of net-zero communities,”.

By deleting “a wide variety of choices for living” and replacing it with “sufficient housing supply”, the purpose of the Greenbelt is almost diminished. If we continue to only think about economical factors, we will have to suffer in the long run. When the focus on housing and other economical factors is dominating, we fail to think about the environment, which these houses will affect in the end. Also, the costs of new infrastructure will be taken from tax-payers and ultimately, do us more harm than good.

By deleting “long-term” and “net-zero” and replacing it with “environmentally sustainable”, not only are we going on a path that will end up not benefiting us in the end, but we are also not balancing everything as we should be. Long-term effects end up doing more good than short-term and net-zero will eventually contribute to being environmentally sustainable.

In conclusion, I urge you government officials to withdraw amendment 1.2, as it is far-fetched and rushed, and may eventually cause everyone more harm than good. I have faith in the Ontario Government and their ideas and I do believe that better and more sustainable ideas can be thought of, if we take into account environmental, economical, and social factors.