We work to save farmland in Hamilton.
Ford reverses decision and will put land back into the Greenbelt!
Integrity Commissioner’s
Damning Report
Hamilton students! Take action against sprawl!
Please sign petition to help them reach 2500!
Auditor General of Ontario, Bonnie Lysyk, issues 93-page report on how and why land was removed from the Greenbelt.
Contact MPPs and tell them to reverse this decision!
Get their email addresses here.
Some important points from the report below:
Greenbelt land was not needed to meet the housing target.
The Ministry of Agriculture said about 76 percent of the 7,400 acres affected was active farmland last year. The Government says they removed 7,400 acres of the Greenbelt but added 9,400 acres elsewhere. However, they fail to mention that 7,000 acres of the newly added land was already protected by other means anyway and would not be developable. So what they did is add 2,400 acres and remove 7,400 acres from the Greenbelt. Net loss of 5,000 acres.
Lysyk found that how the land sites were selected was not transparent, fair, objective nor fully informed.
Lysyk found that 12 of the 15 parcels of land chosen for removal from the Greenbelt had been, as noted by the housing minister’s Chief of Staff, requested for removal by developers or their representatives.
MPAC estimated that removing the 15 land sites from the Greenbelt has the potential to increase their value by $8.28 billion for a few select developers.
The Auditor General’s report also called on the government to
“re-evaluate” the decision to change the Greenbelt boundaries.
New Report:
Land supply is not the reason for limited housing supply
Photo Credit: Hamilton Naturalists’ Club
Our Stop Sprawl Mega Rally on Dec 4
What can you do to help stop the land grab?
And Call the Premier and MPPs! Hamilton and Halton need their municipal decisions respected. Contact these MPPs to let them know.
Local Hamilton Conservative MPPs:
Donna Skelly Flamborough/Glanbrook Tel.905-679-3770
Neil Lumsden Stoney Creek MPP Tel.905-662-8755
And Halton Region Conservative MPPs:
Stephen Crawford Oakville MPP Tel. 905-827-5141
Effie Triantafilopoulos Burlington MPP Tel. 905-825-2455
Natalie Pierre Burlington MPP Tel. 905-639-7924
Gill Parm Milton MPP Tel. 905-878-1729
Ted Arnott Wellington-Halton Hills MPP 519-787-5247
And also:
Premier Doug Ford 416-325-1941
Steve Clark - Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing 416-585-7000 or 613-342-9522
Steve.Clark@pc.ola.org
David Piccini - Minister of Environment, Conservation and Parks 905-372-4000
Todd Smith - Minister of Energy 613-962-1144
Lisa Thompson - Minister of Agriculture, Food, and Rural Affairs
519-396-3007 or 519-523-4251
Lisa.Thompsonco@pc.ola.org
Check www.ola.org for MPPs in your area. They need to hear from us!
Sign this Environmental Defence Petition.
Environmental Defence and Democracy Watch called on the Ontario Provincial Police to investigate whether the provincial government’s apparent leak of secret plans to allow residential development on 15 specific areas within the Greenbelt amounted to a criminal breach of trust by a public officer.
Prevent Ontario’s Food and Farms from Disappearing forever.
Sign this Ontario Federation of Agriculture Petition.
How ‘no sprawl’ groups are defying Doug Ford’s Toronto area development plan
Residents vow to fight province’s plan that critics say will gobble up farmland.
By Noor Javed
The provincial government wants developer profits
over healthy growth.
StopSprawlHamOnt weighs in @theHamiltonSpec
Land Speculator ties to government
“Eight of Ontario’s most powerful land developers own thousands of acres of prime real estate near the proposed route of the controversial Highway 413, a National Observer/Torstar investigation has found.
Four of the developers are connected to Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservative government through party officials and former Tory politicians now acting as registered lobbyists.
If built, the road will raze 2,000 acres of farmland, cut across 85 waterways and pave nearly 400 acres of protected Greenbelt land in Vaughan. It would also disrupt 220 wetlands and the habitats of 10 species-at-risk, according to the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority.”
Follow @stopthe413 and @stopbwgbypass on Twitter.
The cost of sprawl is significant. An Ottawa study showed the city pays $465/person per year to cover the cost of sprawl.
Opinion - Paul Shaker in TheSpec
Five ways for smarter growth in Hamilton
Five ways for smarter growth in Hamilton by Paul Shaker.
By Yuki Hayashi Wed., July 14, 2021
See what Hamiltonians thought about a developer-led campaign to increase sprawl
#sharpieshenanigans
