I strongly urge the…

I strongly urge the Government of Ontario to expand the Greenbelt to include Simcoe County.

This would necessarily include protection for the Oro Moraine in Oro-Medonte Township, which directly supplies drinking water to over 20,000 people and is also the source of numerous watercourses feeding both Lake Simcoe and Severn Sound. Similar to the Oak Ridges Moraine it acts as a huge sponge holding water for a vast area. This resource needs to be protected from degradation.

We need strong protection for the Alliston Aquifer which runs from Tiny Township in North Simcoe to the Oak Ridges Moraine and whose water is exceptional by any standard.

The Minesing Wetlands, Wye Marsh and Tiny Marsh are wetlands of local provincial and international significance. They are significant carbon sinks. Their forests and ground cover provide a front line against climate change and serve an important role in storing and cleaning the water so essential to life.

The coldwater fishery habitats of the Nottawasaga River watershed support one of the largest spawning populations of wild migratory rainbow trout and Chinook salmon in the Great Lakes Basin.

An important function of the Greenbelt is to protect against the loss and fragmentation of the agricultural land base and support agriculture as the predominant land use. Most of Simcoe County is rich in productive farmland.

These are only a few of the reasons that Simcoe County and no doubt other areas of the province should be included in the welcome expansion of the Greenbelt but they underscore the urgency of this legislation and the need to resist any temptation to weaken it.