"A 37-hectare farm, which is zoned as an agricultural resource just beyond the suburb of Orléans, has been allowed inside the City of Ottawa's urban boundary by Ontario's Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing. (Kate Porter/CBC)"
Margaret Atwood's Letter to Douglas - Part 2
"I predict that you’ll shove this bill through as fast as you can, because you’re more frightened of breaking your promises to the developers than you are of breaking your promises to the voters."
Margaret Atwood's Letter to Douglas - Part 3
"Now, Douglas, I did tell you that your #Bill23, otherwise known as the Suckerbait Goldbrick Palmgrease Bill, was a bad idea if the public good was what you had in mind."
Margaret Atwood Letter to Ford - Part 1
Massive Coalition of Groups, including StopSprawlHalton, Unite to Condemn Ford Government’s Secret Sprawl Plans
Toronto: Today [Nov. 22, 2022] a rare coalition of farmers, housing advocates, urban planners, environmentalists, labour unions, healthcare workers and community groups from across Ontario united and released a damning Statement of the Province’s recently proposed recipe for sprawl: Bill 23 and the proposal to remove precious farmland and natural areas from the protected Greenbelt. The 7-page document is signed by more than 125 organizations and almost 100 individuals.
From Conservation Ontario:
"Bill 23, as proposed, changes the rules and rolls back 70 years of successful science-based watershed protection by Ontario’s 36 conservation authorities. These changes are contrary to the core mandate of conservation authorities and could put people – and their homes – at risk." [...]
"We are concerned the changes proposed in the More Homes Built Faster Act will water down this legacy and result in unintended consequences such as:
weaken the ability of conservation authorities to continue protecting people and property from natural hazards,
place new responsibilities on municipalities related to natural hazards and natural resources that they are unprepared and under-resourced to tackle, and
diminish the ability to protect critical natural infrastructures like wetlands that reduce flooding and protect water quality in lakes and rivers."
"Our planners told us that we had enough land. A 20-year supply is sitting there already approved. What it tells me is there is no excuse for opening the Greenbelt, absolutely none," Jane Fogal said in an interview with CBC Toronto.
"To me it looks like planning by developers."
Bill 23 - The "Make Developers Rich" Act
Ontario Government moves to build 50,000 houses on extracted Greenbelt lands
On June 11th, our own Jane Fogal received the Ontario Nature's Public Service Award! Her work inspired both the Stop Sprawl Hamilton and Stop Sprawl Halton movements. Without her, thousands of acres of prime agricultural farmland would have been lost to development. Jane has decided to retire from official public service, but we anticipate that she will remain active in the sustainability movement that has taken root in Southern Ontario. Congratulations Jane!
A great background article from The Narwhal
Golden Horseshoe municipalities have until July 1 to produce a growth plan that looks to 2051. Doug Ford's government prefers single-family housing, but some cities and regions are resisting urban sprawl.
by Fatima Syed, June 28, 2022
Loss of farmland is not sustainable - 319 acres of farmland is being lost every day according to the latest Census of Agriculture, almost double the 175 acres documented in the 2016 Census. Toronto Star contributor Peggy Brekveld, President of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture and owner/operator of her family's dairy farm near Thunder Bay shares her concerns. - See the full Toronto Star op-ed here
Our own Janet Duval in the Globe & Mail! If you have a subscription, check out the article HERE
Any new highway, through the greenbelt or no, will bring massive development in its wake.
Rabble article by Doreen Nicoll, February 25, 2022
Opposition mounting to future growth on farmland
By Melanie Hennessey, Independent Free Press
Saturday, January 29, 2022
Not only does suburban sprawl not pay for itself, it will further worsen the already-devastating impacts of climate change, Jane Jenner and Amy Schnurr write.
From the Hamilton Spectator, Op Ed, by Jane Jenner & Amy Schnurr
Thu., Jan. 27, 2022
Crucial Feb. 9 meeting will now be a council workshop with no public participation
BY KIM ARNOTT, JANUARY 30, 2022, 6:30 AM
Independent Free Press - Opinion - Marilyn Serjeantson, Georgetown
Monday, January 31, 2022
Mike Schreiner calls on Halton to say no to urban sprawl
HALTON, Jan 26 -- This morning, Ontario Greens leader Mike Schreiner held a virtual news conference to call on Halton to say no to a proposal to pave over 5,000 acres of prime agricultural farmland.
“Urban sprawl is not the solution to the housing crisis,’ Schreiner said. “It’s expensive, terrible for the environment, and destroys farmland and wetlands. No one wants to have an unaffordable lifestyle where they’re forced to commute hours just to find an affordable place to live.”
January 24, 2022
See Jane Fogal and Lucy Sanci in this CHCH News report from Jan 21st evening news
President of Oakville Green
Over 600 Registrants for SSH event indicate growing concern over potential loss of
prime agricultural farmland
Written by Don Ablett
BY JANE FOGAL, NOVEMBER 30, 2021, 1:30 PM
Over 5 000 acres of new land (much of it Class A - Agricultural) to be added to the urban boundary.
