Save Ontario Wetlands responds to Auditor General's Special Report
Authored by Rebecca Rooney, August 13 2023
1. We don’t NEED to build on the Greenbelt.
The 6 person Greenbelt Project Team, under cover of non-disclosure agreements, rushed through the decision to carve 15 properties out of the Greenbelt promising to create 50,000 new houses. But as the Auditor General of Ontario, Bonnie Lysyk, confirmed, “there was sufficient land for the target of 1.5 million homes to be built without the need to build on the Greenbelt.” Municipalities have already set aside space to meet our housing targets and those plans involved extensive public consultation, consideration of infrastructure and servicing costs, and ensuring that developed areas could be sustainably supported by the municipal tax base. We already had the space necessary to build those homes.
2. We can’t AFFORD to build on the Greenbelt.
The Auditor General found the Greenbelt land swap plan did not consider agricultural and environmental factors. This breaks the Greenbelt Plan and other land use policies in Ontario. The land cut out of the Greenbelt is classified as prime agricultural land of the highest quality – some of the most productive in Canada. Indeed, Ontario’s own Agriculture Ministry has said that the land swap will have “significant adverse agricultural land impacts” in Ontario. According to Environment and Climate Change Canada, the 15 parcels of land cut out of the Greenbelt are also providing habitat to 29 species at risk. This includes 1000 acres of woodland and wetland.
If you’ve browsed our website, you already know that losing wetlands costs us money, threatens water quality, and endangers biodiversity. It increases flood risk and worsens climate change. Southern Ontario has already lost about 90% of its wetlands and we cannot afford to lose any more.
If you’ve browsed our website, you already know that losing wetlands costs us money, threatens water quality, and endangers biodiversity. It increases flood risk and worsens climate change. Southern Ontario has already lost about 90% of its wetlands and we cannot afford to lose any more.
3. We can still decide NOT to build on the Greenbelt.
The Auditor General’s report made 15 recommendations. Number 14 is that the decision to cut this land out of the Greenbelt must be reconsidered. Unfortunately, this is the only recommendation that the Ford government refuses to implement. If the government is convinced that, despite the admittedly biased process that gave “preferential treatment” to a handful of powerful developers, the outcome was still the best solution for Ontario, then revisiting that decision will surely confirm it. There is still time to reverse course and undertake a fair, transparent process that factors in impacts to agriculture, the environment, municipalities, and Indigenous Rights. Certainly, an issue as important as the housing affordability crisis deserves considered management that incorporates the best available evidence and expertise.
What can you do?
The Greenbelt Project Team certainly heard from a couple influential developers, but Ford and Clark need to hear from the people of Ontario that land use planning must reflect our priorities. We must demand that they accept recommendation #14 and the decision to build on these Greenbelt lands can be reversed.
- Reach out to your municipal leaders: municipalities can refuse to rezone agricultural lands and reject development applications at the level of local councils.
- Reach out to the federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault: he can enact an emergency order under the federal Species at Risk Act and require an environmental impact assessment study into the impacts changes to the Greenbelt might inflict on the Rouge National Urban Park.
- Reach out to your neighbors, friends and families: talking about our shared values can motivate people in our communities to take action to protect wetlands.
TL;DR We don’t need to build on the Greenbelt. We can’t afford to build on the Greenbelt. And we can still choose NOT to build on the Greenbelt. The fertile farmland hasn’t been destroyed. The wetlands haven’t been drained. There’s still time to reverse course and correct things before we commit to this mistake. Call your MPP, call Minister Clark, Call Doug Ford. Tell them to accept recommendation 14 and reconsider the decision to cut these 15 properties out of the Greenbelt.
