Climate organizers protest Bill 23 at MPP office in Stoney Creek

Climate and community organizations held a protest outside of MPP Neil Lumsden office Tuesday in an effort to stop the provincial government’s proposed Bill 23: More Homes Built Faster Act.

The protest was held by ACORN Hamilton, Stop Sprawl and other climate and community organizers.

The groups had previously held a protest at the same location on Nov. 3, raising the alarm for the devastating impacts of Bill 23.

The bill would affect Ontario tenants and cities ability to build and maintain affordable housing.

At the Nov. 3 protest, ACORN delivered a letter to the MPPs office and followed up with an email copy as well as an urgent request to meet.

Despite an initial reply from Lumsden’s office to arrange a meeting, his office has failed to agree to speak with members of ACORN’s Stoney Creek chapter.

ACORN and the Greenbelt Promise Coalition returned to MPP Lumsden office again to determine why the meeting has not yet happened.

“The voters of Stoney Creek went to the polls on June 2, 2022, believing that Neil Lumsden would keep the Greenbelt Promise,” Stoney Creek members of the Greenbelt Promise Coalition said. “It will be an unforgivable betrayal if Conservative MPPs like Neil Lumsden give developers a green light to send bulldozers into the Greenbelt and White Belt in Hamilton.”

Over 5,000 acres of farmland in Hamilton could be bulldozed including Greenbelt lands and through the expansion of the urban boundary.