In a housing crisis, publicly owned land should never be sold to private developers and should instead be used to build the kind of housing the market is unwilling and unable to build.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford talks to the media on a construction site in Brampton, Ont., in May 2022. Later in the year, the Ford government justified its adoption of sweeping housing legislation and the opening of parts of the Greater Toronto Area Greenbelt for development, stating that it was needed to address “the housing supply crisis.”
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young
Evidence suggests that Ontario neither had a shortage of pre-authorized housing starts to accommodate its growing population, nor did it have a shortage of designated land to build such homes.
Bill 23 proposes to eliminate or weaken many housing development regulations including site plan controls, which keep us and our natural environment safe from the negative effects of poorly controlled development.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette
Poorly regulated housing is leading to more greenhouse gas emissions through energy loss, increased energy requirements and greater exposure to weather extremes.