I am against the Province of…

I am against the Province of Ontario removing lands from the Greenbelt and redesignate others. The Greenbelt must be left intact, and expanded, to preserve Ontario’s prime agricultural lands, sensitive wetlands, and the ecosystem services the entire province, and much of Canada, rely upon.

This proposal threatens the stability of the Greenbelt, and sets precedent for tinkering with it whenever it is politically convenient. This erodes the protect the legislation and regulations afford to our natural areas.

This proposal provides no evidence that the redesignations of land will be environmentally beneficial. To date, the province has not released any information on how the new areas will add ecological value, and if this will out weight the removal of other areas.

Most critically, this proposal is not an effective way of achieving its goal - increased housing supply. Ontario has an estimated 88,000 acres of land within urban boundaries set aside for development. This is a significant portion of land, and enough to meet Ontario’s projected population for year to come. The Housing Affordability Task Force noted this in its report, saying that a shortage of land is not causing housing unaffordability. The prime driver of unaffordability and low housing supply is an inefficient use of land. Building medium-density, missing middle housing over endless tracts of single-family homes is an effective way to meet market and consumer demands.

Ontario can address its housing challenges with its currently designated land base, outside of the Greenbelt. This proposal will fail to protect the environment or meaningfully contribute to solving the housing crisis. Please do not enact this proposal, but rather focus on efficiently developing the land we already have.