Opinion: Ford lied about Greenbelt. Now, Bill 23 will be bad for Niagara – Comment from David Israelson, Dec. 15, 2022 – NOTL Local

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An excerpt reads:

On Nov. 28, Ford brought into law his big lie, when the province passed his notorious Bill 23.

The big lie was this: before the election he said that he “won’t touch the Greenbelt.” Bill 23 enshrines the lie into law — thanks to the new legislation, Ford will touch the Greenbelt.

The government will let developers slice it up for suburbs and strip malls, with no say by local communities.

True, the new law is officially supposed to help ease the shortage of affordable housing in Ontario. And it’s also true that, while the Ford government plans to let developers build on the Greenbelt and perhaps even on flood plains, the government also proposes to add some greenspace.

The devil is in the details. While affordable housing is a worthwhile goal that everyone can support, nothing in Bill 23 guarantees a single home that a typical Ontario family could afford will be built in Ontario.

And as for adding land to the Greenbelt, once a government starts allowing parts of its protected space to be paved, it means the Greenbelt isn’t protected. It’s hard to look at this new law as anything else but a land grab — a massive transfer of wealth to a few select developers.