The Premier of Ontario today criticized opponents of using Green Belt land for real estate development for not complaining when the Liberals have changed the Green Belt in the past, but are complaining now when his government takes the action to address the housing crisis.
I want to remind people, because I find it very ironic, we are in a housing crisis and Minister Clark has done a great job, we need to build more houses and we are doing it, but I never heard anybody talk when the Liberals changed the greenbelt 17 times, 17 times, not one complaint, not one word and we didn't have a housing crisis at that time. We need more housing, we're going to build more housing, as fast as we can. So I think there's a bit of a double standard, to say the least. Make no mistake, we are going to build more housing and I will continue to advocate for it.
The Ford government issued new regulations last month that will remove 7,400 acres from the protected Greenbelt, effectively opening that land for housing for the first time.
At the same time, the government is adding 9,400 acres in Greenbelt land elsewhere.
Ford has insisted that the Greenbelt changes are necessary for the province to meet its goal of building 1.5 million new homes over the next decade.
However, opposition parties at Queen's Park have suggested the move will only enrich developers and have called for an inquiry, which is underway, to determine whether real estate developers were previously warned of the opening of Greenbelt.