Waterdown rally opposes Doug Ford’s Greenbelt development plan

Opposition grows against Doug Ford’s development proposal for Ontario’s Greenbelt, with a rally in Waterdown urging the province to reconsider building homes on the protected land.

A couple dozen demonstrators gathered in Waterdown’s core Saturday to protest the Ford government’s plant to re-develop some of the Greenbelt.

In November, the Ontario government announced it would remove 7,400 acres of land from the Greenbelt and convert it into housing developments, all in an effort to ease the housing crisis.

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Ontario says that building on this land is necessary and intends to create new green belt land in another location. However, demonstrators argue that there is no need for building large homes in areas without public transportation or proper infrastructure. They fear that doing so would result in increased tax burdens for the residents.

And the people who were at the protest say they would have liked to have seen a public consultation before the bill was passed to open parts of the Greenbelt. They say they tried to get a hold of local MPP Donna Skelly to voice their concerns but they had no luck.

Ontario has also had some push back from both the municipal and federal government on opening the Greenbelt.

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