TORONTO – Mike Schreiner, released the following statement:
“The Premier is right to admit he was wrong when he took a chainsaw to the Charter rights of the province’s lowest paid education workers.
Now that he has backed down on the egregious Bill 28, he can turn his attention to another outrage by his government – the scheme to open up large areas of protected Greenbelt land to development.
The Premier has shown that he can admit when he is wrong – and carving off parcels of the Greenbelt as gifts to pro-sprawl developers and wealthy land speculators is the definition of wrong.
It puts our farmland at risk as well as people’s property as the frequency and severity of extreme weather events escalates. All this on top of Bill 23, which guts Conservation Authorities’ powers and the province’s wetland protection system.
I call on the Premier to walk back this destructive Greenbelt scheme. It’s time to end expensive sprawl and to permanently protect our remaining farmland, watersheds, and green space for present and future generations.”