Across the Greater Golden Horseshoe developers and land speculators are lobbying local governments to put sprawl-style development on precious natural areas, farmland, and water sources. They’re using the COVID-19 crisis as a smoke screen saying these developments are necessary to get us through the crisis. And they’re convincing local and provincial governments to use an emergency-only tool, Minister's Zoning Orders (MZOs) to ignore proper planning and environmental protection. And most recently, they’ve convinced the Province to take away the ability of Conservation Authorities to stop bad development.
We need to stop them.
Local governments must focus on protecting the natural spaces, farmland and precious water sources we deeply depend on. They must stop sprawl and stop requesting the Province to use MZOs. Instead they must protect farmland and natural areas by adding them to the Greenbelt.
Now it’s time to tell your local Council you want a COVID Recovery Plan that stops using MZOs, stops changes to Conservation Authorities and stops sprawl and grows the Greenbelt.
