I am sure people ahead of me…

I am sure people ahead of me have already stated the importance of farmland, wetlands and woodlands being unnecessarily put at risk by this bill. Others will talk about how we have made commitments to protect 30% of land in Canada by 2030 (and fair representation means that includes 30% of Ontario). Others will have talked money and told you how much value in services the greenbelt areas contains. More will talk about the negative impacts to species. To me what this government will react to, hopefully, is the fact that land for development to address the housing shortage is currently available within the old municipal boundaries.

"The amount of greenfield land already designated for development and added to municipal settlement boundaries, but still sitting unbuilt far exceeds what is needed to meet long range housing targets. That includes 86,500 acres within the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area alone. According to Ontario’s Housing Affordability Task Force, “a shortage of land isn’t the cause of the problem.” pag 10 of the 2022 report.

If this is not developed first I can only assume that the shortage of land is not the actual issue for the housing crisis. So then what is it?