Q&A

FLAMBOROUGHGLANBROOK CANDIDATES ON THE GREENBELT, URBAN EXPANSION

As part of its comprehensive coverage of the provincial election, the Review invited candidates to weigh in on a particular issue. Five candidates and one party spokesperson responded. Their answers are featured in reverse alphabetical order.

QUESTION: What is the importance of the Greenbelt and should it be protected against expansion of the urban boundary?

MELISSE WILLEMS — LIBERAL

The Ontario Liberals created the Greenbelt and we understand and appreciate its important role in providing us with fresh air, clean water and fantastic local food and drink.

Unlike Doug Ford, who was caught promising "a big chunk" of the Greenbelt to wealthy developers to pave over wetlands, the Ontario Liberals will protect and expand the Greenbelt, in consultation with farmers, local neighbourhoods and Indigenous communities.

An Ontario Liberal government will respect Hamilton council's decision regarding sprawl by encouraging gentle intensification within existing urban boundaries. This will support affordable housing while maintaining the character of this great community.

DONNA SKELLY — PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE

Our PC team is fully committed to not only protecting the Greenbelt but growing it. We are taking a balanced approach that preserves the Greenbelt and protects the environment, while supporting Ontario's economic recovery. The Liberals removed 350 acres from the Greenbelt by carving into it 17 separate times.

The Greenbelt preserves farmland, forests, wetlands and watersheds. The Greenbelt supports tens of thousands of jobs in the agricultural, tourism and recreational sectors within the Golden Horseshoe. We would safeguard and expand the more than 800,000 hectares of land currently in the Greenbelt.

PAUL SIMOES — NEW BLUE

Hamilton is at the same time urban and rural. We need the room to grow in order to accommodate our growing population; however, we also need to protect our farmland, which is essential to our long-term survivability.

What we have been seeing is unrestrained expansion. This unrestrained expansion threatens our natural areas and farmland. I will advocate for a plan that addresses the needs of our growing community while protecting our natural areas and farmland. Unrestricted urban sprawl is not the answer. We need to expand while conserving our natural areas and farmland, or risk losing them forever.

NIKITA MAHOOD — POPULIST

First, I would like to identify a potential conflict of interest as I live in the Greenbelt, right outside the expansion zone, and the protection or deterioration of the Greenbelt affects the value of my real estate.

Secondly, I believe the Greenbelt is of the utmost importance as farmland is valuable and necessary to support healthy cities. There is much that can be done to promote sustainability and usability of housing within the city before expansion of the urban boundary should be considered.

ALLISON CILLIS — NDP

Our Greenbelt and farmlands are so unbelievably important and their protection cannot be ignored. Residents of Flamborough-Glanbrook have clearly stated that they do not believe in the urban boundary expansion, and I stand alongside them in protecting our most precious land that we can never get back if they are paved over.

GREEN PARTY

Green Party candidate

Mario Portak was "not available to attend/respond/participate" in the Review's Q&A. However, a party spokesperson provided a response on behalf of the Greens.

The Greenbelt encompasses ecosystems that are key in keeping air and water clean and protecting the good soil we depend on to grow our province. When it comes to climate change, our natural ecosystems provide our best low-cost solutions to maintaining a clean water supply and providing flood protection. These are some of the reasons we need to freeze urban boundaries, strengthen the Greenbelt Act and make new highways through the Greenbelt illegal.

Ontario Greens would double the size of the Greenbelt to include a Bluebelt of protected moraines, river systems and watersheds, including the Paris Galt Moraine, among others.