QUEEN’S PARK — MPP for Guelph Mike Schreiner released the following statement in response to reports that senior government staff discussed changes to the Greenbelt months before the Premier and housing minister claimed to have found out about it.
“Another day, another document showing that the Premier’s hands have been all over the Greenbelt for far longer than he claims to have known about its sell-off.
This time, it’s a record showing that top staffers in the Premier’s office were discussing the Greenbelt land swaps months before both the Premier and the housing minister claim to have been briefed on them.
Ever since this government announced their shady Greenbelt scheme, Ontarians have known that it does not pass the smell test.
Flash forward to today, and there are still major unanswered questions about how so many land speculators knew to buy the parcels of land in question months and years before their protections were removed.
It’s time for this government to drop the act and stop deceiving Ontarians with claims that the Greenbelt must be sacrificed so that a handful of land speculators can make billions.
Numerous studies show there is plenty of land available to build the homes we need in existing urban areas. We don’t need and we cannot afford billion-dollar highways to million-dollar homes hours from where people spend their time.
We need homes that people can afford, in connected, affordable communities designed with people in mind.
It’s not the land speculators’ Greenbelt, and it’s not the Premier’s Greenbelt – it’s the people’s Greenbelt and it will be people power that keeps it in the people’s hands.
I will continue to stand up for an entire generation of young people looking for a home in a caring, connected, affordable community by pushing the government to build the homes we desperately need while protecting the farmlands and wetlands that make our province strong.”