SoVote

Decentralized Democracy

Ontario Assembly

43rd Parl. 1st Sess.
April 19, 2023 09:00AM
  • Apr/19/23 10:30:00 a.m.

Yesterday, the Premier said there was no rhyme or reason to how lands were selected to be protected as part of the greenbelt. He said the greenbelt was formed by “a bunch of staffers in a room with crayons and highlighters and randomly just went on a map.”

If the Premier thinks the greenbelt wasn’t formed using a proper process, well, can he finally share his process for removing lands from the greenbelt?

Again to the Premier: How did the government decide which parcels of land would be removed from the greenbelt?

The Conservatives’ greenbelt grab is not about housing. If this government cared about investing in Ontario’s housing stock, we’d see investment in public housing and in building homes that everyday Ontarians could actually afford to live in; not luxury mansions, on sprawl. Ontarians are following the money. They know it’s not about housing. It’s about insiders with connections to the Conservatives buying up land super cheap and then selling it off, developing it, for incredible profit.

Once again to the Premier, one more chance: Who was holding the crayons when the government decided to sell off the greenbelt?

Interjections.

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  • Apr/19/23 10:30:00 a.m.

I’m glad the Leader of the Opposition heard me yesterday, because that’s the truth. I talked to people who were in the room. They sat there with a big map and they literally got highlighters—a bunch of staffers joking around, going up and down the roads. We know that’s true. Do you know why, Mr. Speaker? The Liberals changed it 17 times. They decreased the greenbelt; we increased it by over 2,000 acres. Some land shouldn’t be in the greenbelt, and some should be in the greenbelt, and we’re expanding the areas that we feel should be in the greenbelt.

When we looked at the map—it’s butt up against existing communities. As a matter of fact, one piece of field, I’ll call it, about 10 acres, had housing all around all four corners—in an empty field with weeds in it. They call that the greenbelt? That’s not the greenbelt. That’s just a field with a bunch of weeds, and people around that neighbourhood all want it to be developed.

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