'A promise is a promise': York Region residents voice opposition to Bill 23

Protesters slam provincial government's decision to open up portions of Greenbelt for development

Yorkregion.com
Dec. 5, 2022
Simon Martin

A cold rainy Sunday afternoon couldn’t keep dozens of York region residents from protesting Bill 23 in front of York-Simcoe MPP Caroline Mulroney’s office in Holland Landing Nov. 27.

Paul and Karen Dance have lived in Sharon for 25 years and aren’t prone to political protest. But when they heard that the Doug Ford government’s Bill 23 would open up some portions of the Greenbelt for development, it was a bridge too far. “I’m very surprised. A promise is a promise,” Paul said. He said the government’s justification that Ontario needs more houses is simply a veiled argument that allows developers to make piles of money. “We need more houses closer to areas where people can work,” he said.

The government’s Bill 23 move really touched a nerve with Karen. “I have never ever come out and protested before,” she said. “I have been so angry. This riles me up.”

She’s not the only one. Tony Farr made the journey Thornhill to lodge is opposition to Bill 23. He thinks the bill’s name, More Homes Built Faster Act, needs to be changed. “It’s better entitled: everything the developers ever dreamed of bill,” he said. “Changing zoning to encourage more infill housing is great but the rest of the bill is all just removing annoyances from things that annoy developers.”

Farr said the bill is leaving conservation authorities, such as the Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority, with diminished power, creating a wild west for developers.

“It’s taking control of development from the people who should be in control and giving it all to developers,” he said.

Holland Landing resident Alexandra Reznik is horrified to see what is happening with the Bradford Bypass and development in the area. “Took a drive and I literally cried at the amount of construction sites that are happening right now,” she said. “How is it possible to be building so fast?”

Reznik was disappointed that nobody from East Gwillimbury council spoke out against the Bradford Bypass going through the Holland Marsh. Reznik also took issue with the idea the land was being developed. “The land has been developing for thousands of thousands of years. They are destroying it,” she said. “Nothing surprises me anymore.”

Rescue Lake Simcoe executive director Claire Malcolmson was on hand at the event, urging the assembled crowd to keep holding the Ford government’s feet to the fire. “We don’t need these highways. These highways are running through the Greenbelt,” she said. Malcomson told the crowd it was time to move away from sprawl and make developments with more density that leave the Greenbelt intact.

Kelsi Whelan made her way down to Holland Landing from Keswick for the protest. The reason for coming was simple. “I just don’t think that they should be touching the Greenbelt,” she said. “I know they plan on adding more Greenbelt but where they are adding it is not in the watershed they are taking from.” Whelan is concerned about the effects the large-scale development will have on the health of Lake Ontario, Lake Simcoe and the Holland Marsh. “There is a bigger turnout than I thought. I’m happy people are coming out,” Whelan said.

Holland Landing resident Bill Foster has long been an opponent of the Bradford Bypass, which the Ford government has pushed ahead with. But he said Bill 23 has brought a wide group of people together. “This is congregation of a whole pile of people with different causes that all look at what’s happening with the Ford government and are pissed off,” Foster said.

Foster says Ford’s brazen actions are autocratic, and whenever the law gets in the way of what Ford wants he changes the law. “The general public is watching what happening and saying ‘this is not what we voted for.’ This guy promised to protect the Greenbelt,” he said.