About 150 people marched outside MPP Stephen Crawford’s Rebecca Street office on November 25 to protest the provincial government’s recent housing-related initiatives.
In recent weeks, Doug Ford’s government has opened protected Greenbelt lands to development, ordered Halton Region to expand its urban boundary, and introduced Bill 23. The legislation will reduce the powers municipalities, and conservation authorities have to regulate development while cutting the fees developers pay to build infrastructure.
The Greenbelt is the world’s largest area of protected farmland, wetland, forests, rivers, and lakes in Southern Ontario. It takes up about two million acres.
Recently, the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, Steve Clark, launched a 30-day consultation on proposed changes to the Greenbelt. But despite protestations, only 7,400 acres of land in the Greenbelt would be removed to build homes.
The government says the changes are needed to spur construction and reach the goal of building 1.5 million more homes in Ontario over the next decade.
On Friday, Oakville critics voiced their frustration with the plan and – as one protester put it – “educated others in the community.”
With talks of a world recession and times of uncertainty up ahead, protestor K. Kelly believes our farmlands and natural resources are among Canada's greatest assets, and opening parts of it up for housing is out of the question. "We are a big exporter of food, and protecting these lands is crucial for our own survival," he claims.
Kelly, one of a few young protestors, wasn't surprised by the lack of young people present. He chalks it up to apathy and the fact that it's a weekday morning. "Young people think that even if they show up to protest, nothing will change. But if a lot of people think that way, then it will be true."
Sharing posts on social media isn't enough for Kelly. He had to show up in person because "we have to stand for something.
He strives to tag more of his friends along to protest with him.
"We have to show the younger generation that we need to stand for something." - K. Kelly, protestor
MPP Stephen Crawford didn't directly address the protestors but wrote that he supports the public's right to protest. He also wants to clear the air as he believes Bill 23 is being misinterpreted by many.
“The province is reducing development charges for only non-profit and co-op housing [...] which will encourage the building of housing supply for those who need it the most.”
Crawford also took the opportunity to point out that while 7,400 acres would be removed as per the plan, "9,400 acres would be added to the Greenbelt at other locations."
Meanwhile, others at the rally, like Kim Bradshaw of StopSprawlHalton, were blunt about their presence at the protest. “We want Ford to know that he needs to listen to his constituents. Just feeding his cronies money for development isn’t going to get us affordable housing.” In fact, Bradshaw doesn’t believe the More Homes Built Faster act will bring about affordable housing.
“If Ford had done any research," she says, "he would know that you need to build affordable housing where there are already services." She claims that homes in the Greenbelt would “actually divert resources away from building affordable housing because people will have to build services to all those ‘very outside the urban boundary’ areas.”
Protestor Bill Hunter also shared that sentiment.
Besides Ford's broken promise to never touch the Greenbelt, Hunter argues that "it wouldn't be possible for housing in the Greenbelt to be affordable" and that "developments would actually be expensive."
He also feels Ford's hands aren't tied as tightly as they seem, as "there is a lot of lands set aside for development. We can go up; we can go sideways."
"There are a lot of things we can do without touching the Greenbelt." - Bill Hunter, protestor