By Hugh Holland
Perhaps it is worth considering some history related to the Ontario greenbelt concept.
In 1945, “despite new roads and the London Underground, London traffic congestion and pollution was forecast to become highly problematic unless development could be encouraged outside of a contiguous capital city. A solution emerged from the study of the measures taken to preserve areas surrounding Paris, and a movement to expand instead satellite towns and other towns in France”.
For the same reasons, in 1973, the Bill Davis Conservatives passed the Niagara Escarpment Planning and Development Act that sought to protect 2 million acres of important environmentally sensitive farmland and encourage developments at the points of a triangle defined by Waterloo, Barrie, and Belleville. Due to the pressure of population growth and development, Bill Davis’s plan was only marginally successful.
The Golden Horseshoe became one of the fastest-growing areas in North America. Because the highway and rail systems are constrained by Lake Ontario, the 18 lanes of Highway 401 across the top of Toronto became the busiest highway in North America. In 2005, the McGuinty Liberals put more teeth in the Greenbelt legislation to try to manage growth in a more sustainable manner. Every year that goal becomes more important but more difficult.
To replace finite fossil fuels before we run out of them, the world needs every kwh of every type of zero-emission energy we can muster. That includes hydro, wind, solar, nuclear, and geothermal, with hydrogen as a storage medium. Large-scale battery storage is not feasible for the electricity grid. Grid batteries compete for scarce materials needed to make batteries for global production of 50 to 75 million electric vehicles per year. (More public transit would reduce the number of private vehicles but is not economically or practically feasible in low-density areas.)
Full disclosure. I consider myself to be a moderate environmentalist. My most strident colleagues need to stop talking out of both sides of their mouth. They oppose the development of a few, strategically located, safe, small modular reactors that would produce consistently year-round on 200 acres of land. But at the drop of a hat, they would cover 20,000 acres of carbon-absorbing greenspace with solar panels that produce equivalent energy annually, but very little in winter. In northern industrial countries, solar produces well as a source of peak power in summer but produces at capacity for only 3% of the total hours in December. 50% of Canada’s emissions come from producing and using oil in conventional vehicles. Electric vehicles must be priority one. Relying on solar power to charge electric cars in December would be a big mistake. Germany is discovering that the hard way. We can avoid that mistake.
Canada needs more people, particularly young people, to replace our retiring baby boomers. Immigrants seem to prefer the diversity of the GTHA. The GTHA population is predicted to reach over 11 million by 2035. That would put the GTHA population by itself at about the same level as the rest of Canada, either east or west of Ontario. Bold measures are required to prevent unmanageable urban sprawl in the GTHA. The problem requires a re-think by both the Ford government and environmentalists. The problem requires a wholistic approach that considers a level of population that will provide the needed workforce, along with the housing and clean energy to support that population. Canada has all the expertise, resources, space, and 30 years needed to do this. Perhaps Doug Ford needs to ask the feds to help shift more of the expected population growth to other parts of this vast empty country.
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Barry Mills says
Revitalizing former brownfield, excess city or government lands, dormant plazas and industrial lands should be priority before ever touching our Greenbelt.
Building up, building smarter, revitalize downtown cores.
Safe guard habitat, our fertile lands to ensure we have built a sound future. We should be dominant in being a producer of food stocks.
Thank you for doing this
Jackie Burkart says
This article misses the point that the GTA and the Greater Golden Horseshoe already had land set aside to meet growth targets to 2051. Developing the Greenbelt is entirely unnecessary. It would only serve to create more urban sprawl make the developers rich at the expense of the environment and food production.
Brian Morrison says
Hi
I believe a conversation with the conversation authorities is very important.With all the issues caused by climate change we have to make an educated decision on housing development. So often bi corporate companies buy out government and plough through in the name of greed.Please everyone write from your heart and build creative homes that people can afford and sustain our environment.
Kind Regards
Brian Morrison
Susan Godfrey says
Bill Davis would roll over in his grave to see what Doug Ford is doing to roll back his vision of a Green Belt in Ontario. What a different motivation the Cons have now..from civic minded responsible governing to self interest promise breaking.
Dennis Putman says
In every town, village, and city, there are plenty of abandoned homes and, plazas All of these can be turned into livable homes Single be duplex or triplex homes and plazas can be apartments
Joanne Tanaka says
When I travel between Hamilton and Toronto, I see that we have paved over more good farmland. We have been doing this for a long time but are trying to change.
Most of the young people and new immigrants we need to support an economy will not be able to afford to move to these Greenbelt subdivisions that are not required to be attainable. The province’s own Housing Task Force has said incursion into the Greenbelt is not necessary, as available land is not the barrier. Increasing urban sprawl at the cost of the Greenbelt will not resolve the housing supply problem.
Lisa dost says
Why is a somewhat uneducated person with a sign painted in their garage..” save the greenbelt” is being seen as the alarm bell that something is seriously wrong with how we are paving over wetlands, forests, and prime farmland. That person is me and I am tired of having to do this, I have been to 2 protests this week..one on my lunch because i work full time and off to another tomorrow in Whitby . Am i looking for a pat on the back..no ..i am looking for someone to stand up to Ford and say Back off the Greenbelt. I wont even bring up our battle getting Amazon to back off building on Lower Duffins Creek Wetland..18 months ago we won by the way..but guess what we just found out they have tilled up 90 % of it last week..so now we have to go to court..because the Conservation Authorty apparently really does not have any authority .so can you see my problem..i am on a never ending protest. Solution ?
Allen Markle says
Except for one comment assuring me that a roof (house) was the most important thing in my life, there is a dearth of comment from the people who worked for the MPP elected in our Muskoka/Parry Sound. Mr. Smith commented here on Doppler in support of Premier Ford, stating Ontario’s need for one and a half million homes in the next 10 years. Admirable, but not very convincing.
It leaves me wondering if the people who expounded on the need to elect Conservatives; who told us ‘locally’, that it was all about 2 ‘full service’ hospitals; that premiers were prone to looking out for districts that elect them; who told us in glowing terms what a Conservative government was, had any idea what they were letting loose in the province.
They were on our airwaves, on the street, at our doors, begging us to elect them and install a DoFo conservative government. They achieved a land slide vote. So be it. In Muskoka/Parry Sound, we tried hard to stand against it, but we came up short. Damn!!
But how do we like it now?
Ford is dissing not only the people who work for a living, but the very land we live on.
Jackie Burkart notes that the GTA and Horshoe region already has land for the next 30 years worth of development. But that ground doesn’t serve to enrich developers, some of whom only recently purchased Greenbelt land that is to be opened up for development. Makes me wonder. But then I do regard all this with cynicism.
I wonder if those people who worked to convince us to vote Conservative in the past election, had any idea how this would all go down? Did they misrepresent themselves to the voters? Or did their leader misrepresent himself, leaving them to feel they were doing the right thing? Were they aware that the rights of people and municipalities were to be swept aside; that we would be as close to a personalist dictatorship as we can be.
I repeat: how do we like him now?
Me. Even less than last time. And he was really low down on my list of ‘likes’ back then.
Mac Redden says
Ford has it all wrong of course.
Affordable housing? How about $150K for off-grid waterfront and no utility bills?
A picket fence is a few hundred bucks extra.
Future of housing.
Some people are giving up trying to buy in big cities and moving to waterfront for only $150K on a half acre lot.
Property tax is a whopping $18 per year.
Municipal Services? Who needs those?
Your own services are far cheaper, more reliable and better for the environment.
$2,400/year is typical in Muskoka for water and sewer. And rising.
Including the costs shown/hidden on our property taxes.
There is no affordable housing in town with services cost like that.
Highest in Ontario and rising.
Muskoka District has not only spilled over a million litres of sewage in the last few years but water was also totally off in Gravenhurst and Bracebridge recently.
People had to melt snow to flush their toilet. It takes a lot of snow.
Boil water for a week afterward.
Tiny house is too small? How about 1500 sq ft on waterfront for $250K instead?
Search “People are fleeing Toronto home prices to cheap off-grid communities in Ontario’s north”
Merrill Perret says
As disappointed as I am with Doug Ford and his disregard for the environment in general, and the green belt in particular, I am encouraged to read these comments. I think my opposition to this omnibus bill is shared by many regular folks, but it is always reassuring to see that opposition clearly annunciated. Let’s not give up, folks.
Jean Bagshaw says
One idea to increase affordable housing is to change the tax laws and municipal bylaws to allow private home owners to “finish” and “rent” their basements as a separate dwelling, without negative financial repercussions such as losing half the house as a primary residence and hence having to pay capital gains tax on that part of the house when it is later sold.
If people were permitted to use their property to create separate apartments in their basements, garages, and backyards, with reasonable limits and inspections, and were given tax exemptions and rebates for the cost of such renovations, then hundreds of thousands of accessible, affordable units would become available very quickly without paving over arable lands.