All lands remove from the…

All lands remove from the Greenbelt must be returned to the Greenbelt immediately. The land never should have been removed and doing so was a gross violation of the trust of Ontarians and completely contrary to the purpose of creating the Greenbelt. The complete lack of ethics and transparency in removing lands from the Greenbelt, and the obvious back room dealing and lobbying that benefited a handful of connected developers is appalling and creates significant distrust among the public with regard to our elected officials who allowed this to happen.

The "housing crisis" will not be solved by building large estate homes on greenbelt lands. It will however have a number of negative impacts on the local communities and ecosystems, saddling municipalities with the costs of servicing a larger area, not aid in meeting density targets, add to urban sprawl, decrease vital farmlands and greenspace, threaten a number of native species at risk, and it won't make an ounce of difference in the "housing crisis". It's a performative action at best, and at worst it's a political debt being paid by those in power to their supporters.

Ontario has an affordability crisis, not a housing crisis. Months of inventory is steadily climbing and preconstruction sales are declining. Factors such as rampant speculation, unregulated "investment" in short term rental properties such as Air BnB removing a significant amount of housing stock from long term rental and owner occupied residences, lack of proper valuations and affordability testing by mortgage lenders, homeownership stimulus plans (First Time Home Buyers, extended amortizations, changes to downpayment requirements, interference in the market with CMHC insurance on homes well above the average price qualifying for insurance placing the risk with taxpayers instead of the financial institutions lending the money, etc.) implemented to save Canada from the crash experienced in the US in 2008 and not withdrawn when the real estate began to inflate, decade long artificially low interest rates which have been proven to have an inverse impact on home prices, promises of financial gain made by "real estate professionals" that would have financial and investment advisors fired if they made the same statements, a demographic boom (baby boomers' children reaching peak home buying age) while boomers are still in their homes, global inflation, fearmongering of foreigners buying up Canadian properties and driving up prices when they represent an incredibly small segment of buyers and a very specific income bracket that has no bearing on the average home cost, as well as personal residences being exempt from capital gains taxes creating an incentive for people to flip houses and treat their home as an income producing asset. The political will to actually address any of the factors that have contributed to the affordability crisis is sadly lacking.

The power and influence of home builders associations, developers, real estate agents, and others who benefit from the housing industry booming is distressing for the future of Ontario. All levels of government bear responsibility for going after easy targets and not addressing underlying causes. The solution is not straightforward, it is not quick, and it is not easy - but it is necessary. The auditor general's report clearly concludes that removing and developing Greenbelt lands is not the solution to affordability issues and the findings must be recognized and heeded. Removing lands from the Greenbelt to building affordable homes is the most absurd and obvious lie, it was a mistake and it needs to be remedied immediately to restore trust in our government institutions.