I’m writing to you today in…

I’m writing to you today in support of the Greenbelt, Conservation Authorities and Ontario’s wetlands, woodlands and other natural areas.

I am writing to state my opposition to the proposal to remove 7,400 acres of land from the Greenbelt, which was revealed on November 04.

The proposal claims that the lands removed will be "replaced" by adding land to the Greenbelt. However, much of the land that will supposedly be added is already protected. And, even if it weren’t already protected, the very possibility of "swapping out" the plots of land targeted for development destroys the permanence and certainty required for any part of the Greenbelt to function properly.

By permanently setting aside land for farming and natural heritage, the Greenbelt protects land from the intense speculation and development pressure in Southern Ontario. Without this permanent protection, agricultural land would quickly become completely unaffordable to farmers. Even raising the possibility of removing any land from the Greenbelt will create a speculative rush and intense development pressure on all the lands currently within the Greenbelt.

Currently, there is a vast supply of unused greenfield land already open for development within existing municipal boundaries (350 square kilometers as of 2019) and the current round of Official Plans awaiting approval will add 42,000 additional hectares of non-Greenbelt land to that vast stockpile.

Given that we have an extreme shortage of homes in existing neighborhoods, and a long term shortage of materials, equipment and skilled labour, squandering our resources on resource -intensive Greenbelt sprawl will mean fewer homes in the places where they're desperately needed.

Proposed policy to allow destruction of currently protected wetlands and woodlands, and changes to the rules that are used to identify wetlands, will cause the majority of these rare and ecologically crucial areas to be opened to development.

Let's conserve our nature intelligently, not conserve the right to violate it!