Waterloo Region residents are fighting the Doug Ford government to keep housing away from protected Greenbelt lands

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WATERLOO REGION — Colleen Cooper agrees that Ontario is in a housing crisis and needs to build more homes that people can afford.

But he thinks building on protected and undeveloped land is the wrong way to go about it. That’s why Cooper and her husband David Cooper are going to do something they’ve never done before.

They will collect signatures for a political petition denouncing the law proposed by the Progressive Conservative government.

“We’ll go (get signatures) wherever they want us to go,” said David, who attended Waterloo’s Public Square to collect blank petitions distributed by the provincial Green party.

The Green party on Saturday invited residents to help petition against the proposed legislation called Bill 23. The petitions have been made available to the public at four locations in this region and at other sites across Ontario .

About a dozen people responded to Waterloo including some with no political allegiance or activist experience.

“The more I read about it, the more damage I see,” Colleen said. “I see threats to our wetlands. I see threats to our farmland. And I see threats to our environment. As a grandmother, I do this for my grandchildren.”

This is also the first time Arlene Reesor and her husband Denis Taylor will petition for signatures.

“We feel very strongly about Greenbelt,” Reesor said. Their son farms and the couple used to live near Markham closer to the Greenbelt, a stretch of protected natural land that stretches across southern Ontario.

“Maintaining agricultural land is very important,” Reesor said.

This region has been severely affected by the housing crisis. The price of new homes has risen 59 percent since 2016, the second-highest increase nationwide. New, detached homes are now priced at $1 million or more, which is beyond the reach of many.

In its broader plan to build 1.5 million homes over a decade, Premier Doug Ford’s government is seeking to open up sections of the protected Greenbelt to housing while pledging to expand protected land elsewhere. The government is even proposing to limit input from conservation authorities and take other planning measures to build more houses.

“Our government is following through on our promise to Ontarians by cutting delays and red tape to get more homes built faster,” said Municipal Affairs Minister Steve Clark in announcing the plan.

The proposed changes to the Greenbelt will not directly affect this region. There is only a small slice of Greenbelt in the southeast corner of the region near the Hamilton border. It will not be affected.

But local critics don’t want to open the door to development on protected lands. They argue that there are other ways to build more houses.

“The province is just making ridiculous decisions,” said Rachelle Clinch. He blames the housing shortage on speculation by developers and says there are sites available and ready where affordable homes can be built.

“It’s about the people at the top just making money,” Clinch said.