I was very dismayed to see…

I was very dismayed to see the government go back on their words published last year in the Toronto Star where Minister Steve Clark stated that the government was "not going to entertain any conversations about a land swap" in regards to Ontario's Greenbelt.

The government is now doing exactly what they said they wouldn't, which they must see makes their constituents and, more broadly, the people of Ontario think three things:
1. That the Minister is not a man of his word
2. That he only said what he said for expediency/convenience
3. That he will lie to us again

The Greenbelt is supposed to be permanent. The most important thing that can be done to protect these lands and the species that reside in them is to keep the Greenbelt whole. This allows for migration of species, limits pollution within habitats, and creates ecosystem resiliency against extreme natural events.

By opening up the Greenbelt to land swaps, you allow for the whittling away of our important natural resources and ecosystems substituted by other areas which are, for the most part, already under some type of environmental protection. This does not conserve more public land, and chokes off the Greenbelt into parcels which cannot exchange biodiversity.

But the housing. We need more housing!

There is a sore need for affordable housing in Ontario. There is a sore need for affordable everything. Gas, food, services, infrastructure, and more are all outpacing Ontarians' ability to pay.

I will save my rant on why that means we should be working to improve wages and not trample Charter Rights to force labour unions to accept untenable contracts.

I'll instead focus on initiatives you could work to enact right now that would help with Ontario's housing shortage without destroying crucial natural ecosystems:
- Focus on zoning that builds housing within existing municipalities where new residents can take advantage of high walkability and public transit to keep their transportation costs down

- Don't allow developers to pass along the costs of suburban sprawl to municipalities that would need to provide new roads and utilities to housing outside of their existing municipality boundaries - allowing this makes living more expensive for everyone except the developers building in the Greenbelt

- Don't rezone Southern Ontario farmland so that it can be turned into subdivisions - Southern Ontario has a unique climate within Canada which allows us to grow many crops that otherwise need to be imported. Relying on importing food from other countries increases costs for consumers, creates unnecessary pollution, and lowers the resiliency of Canada's food supply chains.

- Pass legislation to ensure developers build housing that Ontarians want rather than what makes the developer the most money. We want (and need!) less poorly built single-family homes in sprawling car-dependent subdivisions, less luxury condo skyscrapers, and more affordable housing in multi-use neighbourhoods.