<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class="">Hi GREN Folks,<div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">You may see or have already seen a flurry of Greenbelt announcements in the news today:</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><b class="">1) OGA Announcement - </b>Following the resignations of David Crombie, Kevin Eby, Lynn Morrow, and other key members of the Provincial Greenbelt Council back in December, Minister Steve Clark claimed the government was glad to see them go because the Committee had never produced the Greenbelt expansion plans he had requested. The government had never expressed any interest in expanding the Greenbelt though and had done almost everything possible to ignore, dissolve, and discourage the Greenbelt Council over the years preceding the resignations.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">The Ontario Greenbelt Alliance (of which GREN is a member) decided that if the government is suddenly interested in expanding the Greenbelt that we would provide them with the plan that they were seeking. This report which was rapidly drafted with the assistance of the ex-Greenbelt Council members was released this morning at 8:00am. It is attached below as a PDF and can also be found at the following link:</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span><a href="https://environmentaldefence.ca/2021/02/17/over-90-groups-and-prominent-individuals-offer-a-new-blueprint-for-expanding-ontarios-greenbelt/" class="">https://environmentaldefence.ca/2021/02/17/over-90-groups-and-prominent-individuals-offer-a-new-blueprint-for-expanding-ontarios-greenbelt/</a></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><b class="">2) Ministry Announcement -</b> Within 2 hours of our report being released this morning (though we learned they had seen an early draft copy of it 3 weeks ago), Minister Steve Clark held a press conference to announce that the provincial government was announcing consultations to study Greenbelt expansion. A copy of his announcement is attached below and can be found online at:</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span><a href="https://ero.ontario.ca/notice/019-3136" class="">https://ero.ontario.ca/notice/019-3136</a></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">There is already considerable skepticism about the government’’s sincerity about growing the Greenbelt, they have made it clear that projects such as Highway #413 that would devastate huge tracts of Greenbelt lands and open massive greenfield areas for development would still be happening, and the expansion study announced today was extremely modest - most GTA urban river valleys were already added to the Greenbelt in 2017 and the Paris-Galt Moraine Act has already received unanimous approval on first and second readings and this seems like that is being discarded and the needed protection for this area is starting over again.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">There is also the ongoing debate on Greenbelt expansion to Waterloo Region and if we are better with multiple layers of protection including Provincial Greenbelt status or if we are better without it and simply our own local protections in place. Thus, we will need to determine how much we advocate for expansion to our area during this consultation. In the past it was concluded that Provincial Greenbelt expansion would be favourable provided it didn’t override local protections and that the strongest of the two shall prevail.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">I am attaching below a press release from Simcoe County Greenbelt Coalition below so you can see how other communities are reacting to today’s announcements.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Please share any thoughts or ideas. I will keep you posted on anything further that I learn.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Cheers,</div><div class="">Kevin.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">------------------------------------<br class=""><div class=""><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div class=""><b class="">OGA - Expanding Ontario’s Greenbelt Release:</b></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""></div></div></body></html>