The Honourable Jim Watson, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing 17th floor, 777 Bay St., Toronto, ON M5G 2E5 Fax: 416-585-6470 Re: Increased protection for Ontario's Greenbelt and the Oak Ridges Moraine Dear Minister Watson, Growing the Greenbelt is something that environmentalists and concerned citizens have been advocating for since the Greenbelt legislation came into effect - I would like to congratulate the government for taking steps to improve Ontario's Greenbelt by allowing regional, county and single-tier municipal government to submit requests to expand the existing boundaries of the Greenbelt. While this is a positive idea that reflects the public's desire to create a stronger, more comprehensive Greenbelt, I am concerned that the draft criteria is not as definitive as it needs to be to put a cap on the rapid pace of urban sprawl in the Greater Golden Horseshoe. The fundamental flaw in this particular approach is that the requests must specifically come from either regional or municipal levels of government. A large number of municipalities are financially strapped and depend on the fees they receive from developers; because of this it is unlikely that many of these municipalities will put forward requests to have the boundaries of the Greenbelt extended. Some of Ontario's best agricultural land exists in the areas surrounding the Greenbelt and many areas that lie just beyond the boundaries are currently threatened by leapfrog development. In order to create a more comprehensive Greenbelt that lives up to a meaningful standard of protection, the provincial government must take on a leadership role by identifying areas that are in immediate need of protection and actively monitoring all developments in environmentally sensitive areas. If the government wants to afford more protection to the Greenbelt, it is imperative that it expands the boundaries to protect threatened regions; leaving it up to each municipality is too fragmented an approach to achieve meaningful conservation. Adding fast growing regions such as Simcoe and Wellington County, as well as Kitchener-Waterloo are key elements to a stronger Greenbelt. Furthermore, adding the Pickering Airport Lands, and including the Duffins Creek Watershed (the last healthy intact cold-water ecosystem on the north shore of Lake Ontario) will help ensure a sustainable future for our greenspaces in Southern Ontario. The government must also prohibit inappropriate land uses on the Oak Ridges Moraine, one of the most important landforms in Southern Ontario. The fact that the government is not actively monitoring developments on the Oak Ridges Moraine is extremely problematic given that there are a large number of 'transitional developments' which could have a major impact on the region. These development applications have not been fully approved but they pre-date the creation of the Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Act (ORMCA) and it is unclear if they will be subjected to the new Oak Ridges Moraine protection, to older legislation, or to some kind of regualtion between the two. Other developments that were granted approval prior to the creation of the ORMCA have already been 'grandfathered,' allowing them to proceed as if the ORMCA had never been passed. The government needs to play an active role in land use planning on the Moraine, and prohibit these transitional developments from proceeding in an environmentally sensitive region that is already under considerable pressure from a large population and inappropriate land use. I hope that you will take these comments into serious consideration. Sincerely,