I grew up surrounded by the…

I grew up surrounded by the Greenbelt and the Oak Ridges Marine in Whitchurch-Stouffville. I think I was one of the luckier ones to have access to such protected beauty in Ontario. To even propose to develop over what is currently "protected" is totally unacceptable. The Greenbelt was protected to safeguard the vital resources that clean our air and water, reduces our flood risks, provides a home for wildlife, and ensures our communities have greenspace to explore. It also adds a buffer for urban sprawl. The government should not have the power or ability to declare land protected in one decade, and then decide in the future that the land is required for something else. Our precious land should not to be a hostage to the government of the day.

I understand Ontario is facing a housing shortage. However, building over land can never be undone. Once it's lost, it's lost forever. As an Ontarian, I want to see governments addressing WHY we have housing shortages. It's not because there's a shortage of land, this is clear. We have housing shortages because people are being funneled and pushed into a small part of southern Ontario. We don't need our governments to sell off and pave over protected land we can never reclaim. We need our governments to address the systemic issue of the current housing shortage. Taking the easy way out by paving over protected Ontario land IS NOT THE ANSWER and, in my opinion, it's lazy.

Promote more industries outside of the GTA. Make incentives for companies to open head offices, factories, stores etc. outside of Toronto where there is available land, room to grow and existing homes. Why are there towns in Ontario that are literally dying because of under population, yet the GTA is bursting at the seams. To address this burst, we’re proposing to develop protected land and continue to allow small Ontario towns to die out? This is not a logical solution. Why can’t we problem solve to help population growth via immigration, transfer etc. in areas that are grossly underpopulated and are in desperate need of help instead of this proposed solution of paving over greenspace?

Are we really saying that the smallest part of Southern Ontario must continue to be developed for people to live until there's nothing left? That is totally unacceptable to me an Ontarian and I will be totally ashamed and disgusted if the Ford government, or any other government, uses protected Greenbelt, oak ridges marine etc. land to build homes.

There are other solutions, find them. Ontarians will never forgive or forget the Conservative Government for this.

Thank you,
Jennifer M