Dear Editor:
RE: The keyway, Dec. 1.
Advertiser publisher Dave Adsett was absolutely right when he said in his editorial regarding Bill 23, the More Homes Built Faster Act, that while it is true that we need more homes, they need to be in the right places. Planning where they will go and what type of home should be done carefully.
With health and education systems already overwhelmed, homes need to be within reach of these systems, not dependant on a brand new highway like the 413 and dotted throughout the Greenbelt.
And they need to be the right kind of homes as well, and that takes planning. About 1.5 million immigrant families could mean a lot of children. How many of those families will be able to afford to pay $600K to $800K, the average cost of a family home in rural Ontario?
How many of those homes will be family condos or rental apartments? How many of those families will be able to buy a car as well as carry a mortgage, to get to and from their jobs which presumably will rarely be near their homes? What sort of public transit is planned? How many of those 1.5 million wage-earners will be English speakers, or will a large number need help from ESL teachers?
Bill 23 is remarkably poorly thought out, but perhaps we shouldn’t be too surprised. After all, our premier is not a great thinker.
It is on record that he attended Humber College, but he dropped out after a few months.
The concept that carving into the Greenbelt could hasten climate change in this province, why and how it will happen and how deadly it could be, is likely beyond his comprehension.
Susan Johnson,
Everton