Dear Editor:
I wanted to compliment Michael Vasil for his excellent letter in the Aug. 17 Wellington Advertiser about Bonnie Lysyk’s damming report on the changes that the Ford government made to the Greenbelt. And I wanted to make sure that the Ford government understands the disgust that I feel for this loathsome situation.
As Mr. Vasil and Ms. Lysyk both point out, there was never any need to remove land for the greenbelt because there is sufficient land across the province already identified to meet residential housing needs.
It is also highly unlikely that the lands proposed to be taken out of the Greenbelt will be used to build affordable housing. It is much more likely that this land will instead be used to build high-end housing.
This is about Premier Doug Ford’s political cronies in the development industry being handed an $8.2 billion windfall at the taxpayers’ and the Greenbelt’s expense.
But I reserve my greatest anger for Ford’s response to Lysyk’s report.
The Ford government acknowledges that it was wrong in undermining the Greenbelt, and that consequently, it is going to accept 14 of the 15 recommendations Lysyk makes in her report. However, the only recommendation that it is not going to accept is the most important one-to revisit the land swaps and reverse the bad decisions.
I find this response by the Ford government to be the height of hypocrisy and completely repugnant.
Dan Kennaley,
Rockwood