by Franz Hartmann, Coordinator of the Alliance for a Liveable Ontario
February 28, 2025: Today, the Greenbelt celebrates its 20th birthday. On February 28th, 2005 the Greenbelt Act became law and over two million acres of farmland, natural areas and waterways were protected from development.
Let me be completely transparent: I love the Greenbelt. That’s why I’ve helped protect, strengthen and expand it for most of its existence. My wish is that Ontarians will celebrate the Greenbelt's 40th birthday in 2045.
Sadly, there are those in Ontario who don’t share my love and this wish. In fact, they don't want the Greenbelt to celebrate another birthday, let alone its 40th. As you will read below, the Greenbelt is once again under attack. We’ve stopped two previous attacks. We’ll stop this one too.
But first, let’s celebrate the Greenbelt and all it’s done for us.
For those of you who don’t know much about the Greenbelt, it’s a:
Today, with tariff threats coming from the White House, the Greenbelt is even more important. It provides sustainable "made in Ontario" economic activity. You probably didn't know that the Greenbelt contributes over $9.6 billion annually to Ontario's GDP, close to the auto sector's $13.9 billion. And it protects our food security. Think of all the precious farmland that grows tasty, local food and reduces our dependence on food imports, especially from the U.S.
I celebrate the Greenbelt because it’s brought people together. City folks, like me, regularly connect with Greenbelt farmers at farmers’ markets and on ‘pick your own’ farms. We’ve also gotten to know Greenbelt business owners who provide us with extraordinary recreational and culinary experiences. And it's brought people together who share a deep appreciation for the Greenbelt’s non-human inhabitants (plants, animals and insects) and the webs of life that nurture and sustain us.
It’s rare that a law protecting two million acres of land can do so much good for us. That’s worth celebrating.
The Greenbelt is also key to creating the housing Ontarians can afford in liveable communities.
The Greenbelt not only protects what is important to Ontarians, it's a crucial planning tool. It stops land speculators and sprawl developers from building the wrong type of housing at the wrong prices in the Greenbelt. That means municipalities and developers have more reason to build the right type of housing at the right prices in our towns and cities. This is the recipe for making homes affordable and part of liveable communities. And the Greenbelt is a key ingredient.
Unfortunately, the Greenbelt will face its biggest threat, likely this year.
Key sprawl developers and land speculators want to eliminate Greenbelt protection from the two million acres of farmland, natural areas and watersheds. They want these lands for sprawl development. They’ve been fighting for this ever since the Greenbelt was created because they know the Greenbelt harms their sprawl business model.
This became clear in 2023. That's when Ontario's Auditor General reported on the province's plan to remove 7,400 acres of prime agricultural land from Greenbelt protection. The province wanted to allow a small number of developers who owned this land to build housing on the land, likely expensive McMansions. The Auditor General found this land transfer would result in a huge $8.3 billion land value increase for these developers Thankfully, public opposition stopped this from happening.
Unfortunately, key developers and land speculators have found other ways to get the province to push sprawl. From fall 2022 to fall 2024 the province changed a whole host of planning laws to make it eaiser for sprawl to consume farmland and natural areas not protected by the Greenbelt. Last fall it removed the need for municipalities to require developers to build a minimum number of affordable and diverse housing types within our towns and cities. That means the Greenbelt is our last line of defence against destructive, expensive sprawl consuming the Greater Golden Horseshoe.
This year opponents of the Greenbelt will get another chance to harm, if not destroy it. The law requires the Provincial Government to review the Greenbelt every 10 years. The next review is expected to start in 2025. And there is every reason to expect the re-elected government will use its new mandate to undermine the Greenbelt. And they will likely argue the housing crisis that they've made worse can only be solved by building more single family homes in new subdivisions on the Greenbelt. This is in spite of the facts: more than enough land is already available in existing towns and cities; expensive sprawl housing will not be affordable and will not be in places people want to live.
We must fight for the Greenbelt to ensure a Liveable Ontario.
We’ll likely find out what the Province has planned for the Greenbelt in the coming months. Those of us who love the Greenbelt need to be ready. We’ve got work to do:
The public needs to know how vital the Greenbelt is to protecting us.
We need to demand that the provincial 10-Year Greenbelt Review be used to protect, strengthen and expand the Greenbelt, not harm it.
We must tell all our elected officials -municipal, provincial and federal- that a healthy, growing Greenbelt is key to solving the housing crisis, the climate crisis and building a liveable Ontario.
Over the coming months we’ll be helping get Ontario ready for another fight to save the Greenbelt. Stay tuned.
One more thing… Throw your own Greenbelt Birthday Party!!
We’re going to celebrate the Greenbelt’s 20th Birthday throughout 2025. If you love the Greenbelt or if you’re just looking for an excuse to bring friends and loved ones together, consider throwing your own Greenbelt Birthday Party.
Have fun. Buy food grown in the Greenbelt. Create a Greenbelt Quiz. Offer winners some tasty Greenbelt-grown food or a bottle of Greenbelt wine from Niagara. Whatever you do, celebrate the Greenbelt and the fact that it is working hard for Ontarians.
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