While I understand that…

While I understand that growth is important in this province, and our population continues to grow, urban sprawl into protected Greenbelt land is not the answer to this.

I am astounded that this provincial government is proposing to remove these lands from the Greenbelt and actively encouraging their development. In 2018 Doug Ford had to backtrack on a similar proposal to develop in the Greenbelt after public backlash. Just last year Steve Clark stated that the Greenbelt lands would not be open to any kind of development. To turn around now at a time when the public is more focused on Doug Ford’s attempt to trample over Charter rights in labour negotiations is quite frankly disgusting.

Having spent the majority of my life in Ontario, I’ve been proud of the Greenbelt since it was established in 2005. It is a sign of our commitment as a province to protecting green space and environmentally sensitive lands. To just try and trade these lands and pull the wool over the eyes of citizens takes away any and all meaning from the Greenbelt designation.

I sure hope that the citizens of this province are not too distracted by the government’s other missteps and wrongdoings to see what’s happening here. I sincerely hope this proposal will get the negative attention that it deserves and not come to pass.