Greenbelt is essential to quality of life

Re Critics say Ford will promote sprawl, May 1 Protection of the Oak Ridges Moraine in 2001 and the Greenbelt in 2005 represented an important signal that livability for the region would take precedence over the interests of a few developers.

Now, PC Leader Doug Ford is looking to rewind the clock a couple of decades and bring back outdated, sprawl-style development. He offers a thinly veiled excuse of housing affordability, which is a clear concession to a few influential speculators looking to convert valuable farmland and natural areas into car-dependant, low-density housing.

The livability of the region is at stake here. A decision to open up the Greenbelt will negatively impact all residents across the Greater Golden Horseshoe who drink water, eat local food, enjoy the outdoors or don’t want to see their homes flood. Joshua Wise, Toronto

It’s worrisome that PC leader Doug Ford privately assures developers he’ll “open a big chunk” of the Greenbelt to housing. He should be called out for hypocrisy.

He professes to care about the debt-load the current government is leaving future generations, while not recognizing how his Greenbelt housing will destroy the environment for those same future generations. Eugene Bolvary, Toronto

In his plan to pave the Greenbelt, Doug Ford refers to it as “just farmer fields.” It appears he’s one of those people who believes that food somehow just magically pops up at the grocery store.

He also takes great pains to distance himself from “the elites,” yet I’ve never met a non-elite who spent his time making secret land deals with condo developers.

Remember, Mr. Ford, the Greenbelt was intended to be protected for the good of all of us, we taxpayers for whom you claim to have so much respect. It definitely doesn’t belong to you to give away. Jil McIntosh, Oshawa