I want to thank the thousands of Londoners who attended Earthfest on the weekend and who lined up at my table to sign this petition to protect the greenbelt and repeal Bills 23 and 39.

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas Bills 23 and 39 are the Ford government’s latest attempt to remove protected land from the greenbelt, allowing wealthy developers to profit over bulldozing over 7,000 acres of farmland;

“Whereas green spaces and farmland are what we rely on to grow our food, support natural habitats, prevent flooding, and mitigate from future climate disasters with Ontario losing 319.6 acres of farmland daily to development;

“Whereas the government’s Housing Affordability Task Force found there are plenty of places to build homes without destroying the greenbelt, showcasing that Bill 23 was never about housing but about making the rich richer;

“Whereas the power of conservation authorities will be taken away, weakening environmental protections, and preventing future development;

“Therefore we, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to immediately repeal Bills 23 and 39, stop all plans to further remove protected land from the greenbelt and protect existing farmland in the province by passing the NDP’s Protecting Agricultural Land Act.”

I fully support this petition. I’ll affix my name and send it to the table with page Senna.

I’d like to thank all the residents of London West who signed petitions to protect the greenbelt.

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas Bill 23 is the Ford government’s latest attempt to remove protected land from the greenbelt, allowing developers to bulldoze and pave over 7,000 acres of farmland in the greenbelt;

“Whereas Ontario is already losing 319.6 acres of farmland and green space daily to development;

“Whereas the government’s” own “Housing Affordability Task Force found there are plenty of places to build homes without destroying the greenbelt;

“Whereas Ford’s repeated moves to tear up farmland and bulldoze wetlands have never been about housing, but are about making the rich richer;

“Whereas green spaces and farmland are what we rely on to grow our food, support natural habitats and prevent flooding;

“Therefore we, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to immediately amend Bill 23, stop all plans to further remove protected land from the greenbelt and protect existing farmland in the province by passing the NDP’s Protecting Agricultural Land Act.”

I strongly agree with this petition. I affix my signature and will send it to the table with page Ema.

As I mentioned in my remarks this morning, one of the primary concerns of people in Ontario—and we know that from the support that the Ontario Federation of Agriculture is getting for its homegrown farmland preservation campaign—is to preserve farmland.

So this member can talk about the number of regulations that have been reduced, but on this side, we want to highlight the fact that 319 acres of farmland is being lost in this province every day, and that is undermining our self-sufficiency as a food-producing jurisdiction. It is undermining food security for people in this province. It is undermining the sustainability of our agriculture and rural industry, and it’s affecting our environment when you see that level of loss of farmland on a daily basis in this province.

I appreciate the comments from my colleague the member for Humber River–Black Creek. He talked about the threat to the greenbelt that this government has initiated with the changes that it has undertaken as part of Bill 23. This red tape bill is part of a package with measures including the government’s Grow Ontario strategy, which is intended to support farmers and Ontario’s food supply. Do you feel that in light of the attack on the greenbelt, in light of the construction of Highway 413, in light of the use of MZOs to pave over farmland—do you think that this bill, these measures, will actually protect Ontario’s food supply?