I encourage everyone to…

I encourage everyone to watch the YouTube channel NOT JUST BIKES. We need smart development in this province and not just more urban sprawl of single family homes. I understand the desire to open up more new land. It makes sense to build on new land rather than tear down existing buildings when we need significantly more housing in this province.

If we are to open the Greenbelt, we should maximize the housing built on each unit of land. We should NOT build single family home suburbs on it. That type of building is a hugely inefficient use of land and it effectively makes everyone who lives there dependent on a car to get around.

We should develop a new European-style master-planned modern urban core; with tall buildings, a GOOD transit system ready-to-go, etc, effectively a whole new city. A proper city. Greenbelt lands should be used sparingly. Construction of both buildings and transit would be vastly less expensive without worrying about the existing infrastructure and disruption to daily life current developments in places like Toronto currently cost.

A new city where the people are not dependent on vehicles would also be beneficial for our climate change goals.

We are going to see at least a million new Ontarians in the next few years. We need a whole new large city. Not more single family homes. Watch NOT JUST BIKES.

Add-on: The children who will live in single-family-house suburbs are effectively trapped because of the automobile dependency. I lived in one of these neighbourhoods as a kid. They're bad for kids' development. There's little ability for them to be independent (i.e. to see friends, walk to school, activities) before getting a drivers' licence. And they only get that freedom at 17 if they can afford a vehicle. (Remember, can't drive alone with a G1) And there's the lack of physical activity and thus health issues that comes alone with it.

Also, please find the video on the NOT JUST BIKES channel of how single-family-home suburbs and low-density neighbourhoods do not collect enough tax revenue to cover the infrastructure and municipal services costs they come with. A city would be a fiscally responsible option in the long-term. Sprawl would be a continuous draw on municipal and provincial finances.