{"id":914319,"date":"2022-12-09T17:54:22","date_gmt":"2022-12-09T17:54:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/environmentaldefence.ca\/?p=36893"},"modified":"2022-12-09T17:54:22","modified_gmt":"2022-12-09T17:54:22","slug":"important-things-you-should-know-about-the-ontario-governments-six-major-recent-attacks-on-farms-forests-wetlands-and-livable-communities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2022\/12\/09\/important-things-you-should-know-about-the-ontario-governments-six-major-recent-attacks-on-farms-forests-wetlands-and-livable-communities\/","title":{"rendered":"Important things you should know about the Ontario government\u2019s six major recent attacks on farms, forests, wetlands, and livable communities"},"content":{"rendered":"
There is some understandable confusion about what-is-what in the complex package of attacks being undertaken by the Ontario government on environmental protection, municipal planning, livable communities and the Greenbelt.<\/p>\n
So we thought it would be useful to lay it all out in one place in an abbreviated form to help you understand how it all fits together \u2013 and where you and your community can best engage to take action against these attacks on the environment.<\/p>\n
In simple terms, the provincial government\u2019s rapid dismantling of Ontario\u2019s systems for flood prevention, regional land use planning, infrastructure financing and for the protection of habitat and farmland, is designed to force municipalities to abandon efforts to grow sustainably, and redirect investment and scarce resources to the least efficient, most environmentally harmful forms of development.<\/p>\n
While the Ontario government has tried to present this onslaught of upheavals as if it were a response to the very real shortage of low-cost homes, and \u201cfamily\u201d homes in particular, that narrative is so clearly incompatible with the facts that the government cannot plausibly believe it is true.<\/strong> These changes are likely to deliver fewer homes, not more, especially in the places where they\u2019re most desperately needed and in the types that are most needed and affordable.<\/p>\n Our view, based on all the evidence available, is that the government is trying to take advantage of the very real crisis in housing affordability and use it to deliver their actual agenda: creating a pretext for rapid car-dependent sprawl onto large areas of rural farmland owned by well-connected land speculators, and freeing those who own prime pockets of urban land from any obligation to build in a socially and environmentally sustainable way.<\/p>\n While Ontarians desperate for homes they can afford benefit from rules that direct housing to existing neighborhoods and built up areas, and mandate efficient use of land and floor space, land speculators who have recently stockpiled vast swathes of the Greater Golden Horseshoe\u2019s best remaining farmland wetlands and wild places want just the opposite.<\/p>\n More broadly, the most useful way to understand the entire package of anti-environment attacks is to recognize it as nothing more than a grab-bag of made-to-order laws and policies designed to fulfill the self-interested \u201cwish lists\u201d of the best-connected real estate investors. There is a vast chasm between the forms of development that maximize the supply of homes people need, fight car-dependency, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and conserve farmland and natural places, and those forms of development which maximize profit for the best-connected landowners.<\/p>\n Likewise, when it comes to what gets built in existing neighborhoods, meeting housing need and enhancing affordability would require policies aimed at quickly adding large numbers of low-cost homes that are practical for all household types to existing neighborhoods, including large numbers of purpose-built walk-up apartments, townhomes and stacked townhouses, on what are now \u201csingle detached\u201d lots in low-rise neighborhoods. It would require a strengthening of protections against displacement for existing tenants, and inclusionary zoning provisions designed to maximize the number of deeply affordable homes included in the developments closest to public transit and amenities.<\/p>\n By contrast, the most deep-pocketed and politically influential urban land speculators benefit from policies which concentrate new homes on the small swaths of \u201cprime\u201d urban land that they already own, and which free them from design standards and up-front payments required to protect the environment and improve affordability for residents long-term.<\/p>\n In each and every case where the interests of the best-connected real estate investors come into conflict with those of Ontarians who simply need access to a dignified home, with the environment, and with the public interest more broadly, the Ontario government is siding with very wealthy and well-connected investors.<\/p>\n There are six main legislative or policy initiatives that are being used to attack the environment, facilitate sprawl, and make housing less affordable. Below is described the focus of each of these major anti-environment legislative and policy initiatives.<\/p>\n 1. Bill 23, \u201cMore Homes, Built Faster Act\u201d<\/strong> Bill 23, which has now been forced through the Ontario Legislative Assembly (but which can and should still be repealed) is an \u201comnibus bill\u201d which packages together several disconnected changes to existing laws.<\/a><\/p>\n It advances the goal of accelerating car-dependent sprawl onto rural land owned by well-connected land speculators in at least three main ways:<\/p>\n Bill 23 also includes a number of other, separate changes which have set off alarm bells among advocates for the environment and for environmental justice:<\/p>\n In our view, the net effect of Bill 23 will be to produce fewer homes, and more expensive ones, rather than \u201cmore homes\u2026faster\u201d. That is because it would divert construction resources, which will remain scarce for an extended period due to global supply chain issues, and which are desperately needed to add large numbers of compact homes including family homes in existing neighborhoods, away from that kind of development, and into places and into types of housing (bigger ones) that require much more labour, materials, equipment, to build and service them.<\/p>\n Find out about upcoming #RepealBill23 rallies and more here<\/a><\/p>\n 2. Greenbelt Plan Gouge-Out: Proposed amendments to the Greenbelt Plan, Greenbelt Area boundary regulation (O. Reg. 59\/05), and Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Plan (O. Reg. 140\/02)<\/strong> Even though Bill 23 has already passed, the government\u2019s attack on the Greenbelt is currently only a proposal. There is still time to prevent it from happening.<\/p>\n The government is proposing amendments to the Greenbelt Plan, Greenbelt Area boundary regulation (O. Reg. 59\/05), and Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Plan (O. Reg. 140\/02) that would destroy the certain and permanent protection the Greenbelt system relies on, by removing 7,400 acres from the edge of the Greenbelt Area.<\/p>\n The Greenbelt was established in 2005 to permanently protect 1.8 million acres of farmland, forests, river valleys and wetlands. Its food security, climate mitigation and adaptation, recreation and economic values are almost incalculable. Over 90 per cent of the Ontario public supports the protection of the Greenbelt and the Premier and his Ministers have repeatedly promised not to touch it. However, sprawl developers stand to make millions or billions by building subdivisions of large homes on its lands.<\/p>\n In addition, because the land has been protected as farmland, sprawl developers are able to buy it cheaply, and if they can have the protections removed they will make windfall profits from the increase in the land value. As a result they have successfully convinced the provincial government to propose removing 7,400 acres of farms, forests and wetlands from the Greenbelt.<\/p>\n This proposal is a disaster for the Greenbelt and its values and sets a precedent that the protections are no longer permanent. This will ignite a rush of developers buying up farmland and lobbying the provincial government to allow development on their holdings as well. You can read more about why removing land from the Greenbelt is such a dangerous idea here<\/a><\/p>\n TAKE ACTION: Tell Premier Ford to take his Hands Off The Greenbelt<\/a><\/p>\n 3. Declaring Open Season on Wetlands: Proposed Updates to the Ontario Wetland Evaluation System<\/strong> The Greater Toronto Area (GTA) has lost about 85 per cent of its wetlands and\u00a0 southern Ontario overall has lost about 75 per cent. Wetlands are critical to cleaning water, supporting wildlife, preventing floods, acting as carbon sinks and providing recreational opportunities. The development industry strongly opposes protection of these areas on lands it wants to build on. As a result, the provincial government is proposing to change the way that the importance of wetlands are evaluated (and who does the evaluation) in a manner that will result in the vast majority of remaining wetlands no longer being considered worthy of protection.<\/p>\n For example, Conservation Halton estimates that about 90 per cent of the currently protected wetlands in their region will be opened to development as well as about 80 per cent within Niagara region. You can learn more about the value of wetlands and the consequences of the proposed changes here.<\/a><\/p>\nWhat are the main anti-environment laws and policies of the Government’s package of changes?<\/h3>\n
\nStatus: Passed into Law, Some Parts Have Royal Assent<\/strong><\/p>\n\n
\n
\nStatus: Proposed<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nStatus: Proposed<\/strong><\/p>\n