It is the first time I am sending a special issue of the newsletter. This won't become an habit and I will stick to the monthly newsletter not to overwhelm your mailboxes, unless some critical issue arise such as this one, which I believe, requires a dedicated edition.

There is a lot of information in this email and I know most of you don't have the time to read it all. TL;DR is that bill 23 - more homes built faster is a bad idea that will have impact on the environment, democracy, local governance, taxpayers (that's you!) and won't help us address the current housing crisis. It is not too late to act though and YOU can make a difference: scroll down to the bottom to see how! 

The Greenbelt is a "permanently" (not anymore, it seems!) protected area of green space, farmland, forests, wetlands, and watersheds, located in Southern Ontario, Canada. It surrounds a significant portion of the Golden Horseshoe.

Created by legislation passed by the Government of Ontario in 2005, the Greenbelt is considered a prevention of urban development and sprawl on environmentally sensitive land in the province. According to the Greenbelt Foundation, the Greenbelt includes 2,000,000 acres (810,000 ha) of land. That includes 721,000 acres (292,000 ha) of protected wetlands, grasslands, and forests. 

The Greenbelt generates approximately $9.1 billion of revenues annually through farming, tourism and other activities. 

It is one of our main defense against the impacts of climate change, mitigating flood risks, helping air pollution and sheltering biodiversity.  

Bill 23 - More Homes Built Faster was introduced by the Ford Government as a solution to address the housing crisis in Ontario by opening 7,400 acres of the Greenbelt to development. The idea is to build 1.5 million units in the next 10 years, a number that seem way above Ontario's needs for housing. 

Although housing is an issue in Ontario, bill 23 will not help solve the crisis and is used as a mere excuse by the Government to attack environmental protection, reduce municipalities decision power and is deemed counterproductive in solving the crisis. 

Finally, this bill is another example that Ford cannot be trusted as he committed, in 2018, as an election promise not to touch the Greenbelt (see video below). 

Several infrastructure projects are currently threatening the greenbelt and other protected areas in Ontario: the Bradford bypass, the highway 413 and now bill 23. If bill 23 is passed, environmentalists are concerned that it will pave the way to more requests to open the Greenbelt and threaten its whole integrity in the long run. 

The Greenbelt is one of the biggest protected ecosystem in Ontario, providing more than $1 billion of ecological services annually. It is one of our main defense against climate change, acting as a carbon sink, filtering air and water pollution through wetlands, regulating water flows and mitigating flood risks across the region. It is also home of many species, including 78 species at risk and home of cedar trees 800 years old or even more. 

In addition, some of the best agricultural land in Ontario is located within its boundaries and this cannot be ignored as the Province is currently losing 319 acres of farmland daily. At a time where food insecurity is rising, it seems important to protect this prime farmland. 

Finally, bill 23 is proposing to include new lands to the greenbelt to offset the ones taken away. That said, environmentalists are skeptical about the positive impact of those additions as some of the land is already protected and the areas proposed do not add much value with regards to biodiversity corridors. 

Bill 23 includes a set of rules that will highly diminish the power of municipalities and other actors in setting rules for development. Through this legislation, the Government has overwritten some decisions passed by municipal councils to not extend urban boundaries. 

Conservation areas will see their decision power strongly reduced as well and are raising the alarm about this.  

Below is a list of organizations opposing the bill and warning about its implications (click the link to see each statement): 

- Association of Municipalities Ontario

- Ontario Big Cities Mayors

- Credit River Conservation Authority 

- Ontario Greenbelt Alliance 

- Ontario Nature

- Wellington Water Watchers

- and many more...

Bill 23 is proposing to curtail the development fees that municipalities could charge, going against the "development pays for development" principle, meaning a big financial loss in municipal revenues that would have to be passed on to taxpayers, to accommodate the growth. 

It is estimated that the bill could cost Ontario's municipalities up to $5 billion. Several cities have been vocal against it, from Niagara Falls to Ottawa, including Mississauga, Brampton, Aurora, Toronto and more. Municipal staff in Markham explained they might have to increase property taxes between 50 and 80% to make up for lost revenues. 

Click on the titles below to see the answers. 

Although the Government is trying to expedite the bill by cutting short question times and else, it is not too late to take action. Here are a few ways you can make a difference and ensure we come up with a better solution to solve the current housing crisis, that won't put at risk our protected ecosystems.