The Hamilton Spectator

The Greenbelt is no scam

VICTOR DOYLE VICTOR DOYLE IS A PROFESSIONAL PLANNER WHO LED THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE GREENBELT PLAN.

Ontario’s Greenbelt is fundamental to the environmental, agricultural and economic sustainability of the Golden Horseshoe. In calling it a “scam” — defined as a dishonest or illegal plan or activity — Premier Doug Ford has disparaged the Ontario civil service along with countless professionals, citizens, politicians and the municipalities, conservation authorities, civil society organizations and community groups that devoted their time and knowledge to create the largest and most strongly protected Greenbelt in the world.

Globally recognized and recipient of both provincial and national awards, the Greenbelt ensures clean water by protecting our aquifers and rivers that feed the Great Lakes. It protects our forests to provide clean air and habitat for plants, wildlife and pollinating insects. It protects vast tracts of the best farmland in Canada, which are a fundamental component of our economy and food security and it plays a critical role in combating the impacts of climate change by mitigating flooding, sequestering carbon and moderating temperature.

The Greenbelt extends the protections of the Niagara Escarpment (1985) and Oak Ridges Moraine (2002) plans enacted by prior Progressive Conservative

administrations — building on the methodologies used to create them.

Embracing a science and evidence-based approach using the best possible data and information, it was informed by the most comprehensive agricultural analysis ever undertaken in Ontario. Decades of data on forests, wetlands, wildlife and fish habitat was compiled. Extensive data on ground water recharge, discharge, regional geology and landform arising from years of intensive research was assembled.

This vast array of information was analyzed by a multidisciplinary provincial team of leading experts.

Extensive consultation was undertaken at the inaugural and draft plan stages, including by the external, multi-sectoral Greenbelt Task Force. There were numerous public meetings, thousands of submissions, and individual meetings with conservation authorities, municipalities and key stakeholders. Local communities provided invaluable local knowledge.

The creation of the Greenbelt was also closely aligned with the creation of the Growth Plan. Major infrastructure, existing and planned rapid transit, environmental capacity, historic and proposed intensification and density trends/targets were all considered, resulting in substantial tracts of land being left out of the Greenbelt in order to accommodate potential future growth.

Fast forward to the 2017 review of the Greenbelt and Growth Plan led by the multisector advisory panel led by David Crombie, which found the Greenbelt was working very well while the Growth Plan needed to be strengthened — leading to the inclusion of Agricultural and Natural Heritage Systems in the Growth Plan based on the Greenbelt methodology.

Today, leading research by civil society organizations and the Regional Planning Commissioners of Ontario show there are over of 80,937 hectares of approved, unbuilt land for urban uses in the Greater Golden Horseshoe with over 2 million units planned, 1.3 million of which are either under construction, approved or applied for.

This does not include the 24,281-plus hectares of farmland the minister approved for urban use this past fall just in the GTHA. There is absolutely no need whatsoever to remove any land from the Greenbelt, which is supposed to be the counterbalance to the permanent urbanization arising from development of the above lands.

Indeed, far from a scam and a flawed policy, the Greenbelt and Growth Plan represent a thoughtful, well informed and carefully designed vision for the long term environmental, social and economic future of the Golden Horseshoe.

OPINION

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2023-05-30T07:00:00.0000000Z

2023-05-30T07:00:00.0000000Z

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