Ford fails to understand the housing crisis and the value of farmland, wetlands and forests

September 5, 2023

QUEEN'S PARK — Ontario Greens leader and member for Guelph, Mike Schreiner, released the following statement in response to Premier Ford’s announcement that the government is going ahead with its plan to remove lands from the Greenbelt.

“We just witnessed a Premier completely out of touch with how outraged Ontarians are about the $8.3 Greenbelt scandal.

Ford’s failure to reverse the corrupt decision to remove land from the Greenbelt is unacceptable.

It’s outrageous that the Premier declared open season on the Greenbelt today by announcing a process to make even more Greenbelt land available for development.

Ontarians won’t be satisfied until this premier does the right thing by reversing the corrupt outcome that led to the $8.3 billion Greenbelt scandal and by keeping his promise to not open the Greenbelt for development by returning every single acre of land to the Greenbelt.

Premier Ford clearly does not understand how to fix the housing crisis. There is enough land approved for development to build two million homes.

But the Premier refuses to accept this because he is more focused on having Ford-connected insiders cash in billions, instead of building homes that people can afford in communities they want to live in.

Ford’s $8.3 billion Greenbelt giveaway threatens our food security and our $50 billion food and farming economy. It makes no sense to pave over farmland when people are struggling to afford groceries.

Ford is threatening people’s lives, livelihoods and property by paving over the wetlands and forests that clean our drinking water and protect us from extreme weather like flooding.

The Premier needs to give up on his Greenbelt giveaway and start building homes that people can actually afford in the communities they want to live in.”

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