We’re not out of the woods yet, but the fifth anniversary of the Green Belt is something to celebrate.
Despite relentless pressure, its 1.8 million acres the province set aside in 2005 remain miraculously intact. Stretching from Niagara Falls to Tobermory to Peterborough, it is a green horse shoe that rings the Golden Horseshoe. There was much shouting and screaming at the time — most notably from certain developers whose fury knew no bounds — but half a decade later, the wisdom of the move has been widely acknowledged.
The most recent confirmation comes from the Canadian Institute for Environmental Law and Policy. In a report to be released today, authors Maureen Carter-Whitney and Thomas Esakin call the Greenbelt a “visionary act of leadership for the province.” Not often do we hear such praise for our provincial leaders, in this case, Dalton McGuinty.
“This anniversary is an occasion to celebrate,” declares Carter-Whitney. “It’s also an occasion to learn. Greenbelts are a challenge to maintain.” Nowhere more so than in southern Ontario, where developers, aided and abetted by their friendly local councillors, have reduced vast swaths of the landscape to an asphalt desert.
As the report makes clear, greenbelts can be found around the world. Indeed, some have existed for as long as 75 years. In the U.K., London’s dates back to 1938. By comparison, Ontario’s is still young and relatively untested. As the institute also points out, however, ours is “the strongest in the world for its supporting laws and policies.”
Still, according to Carter-Whitney, the survival of the greenbelt will depend ultimately on public support; take that away and you make it easier for the development industry to wreak its usual havoc.
In fact, the timing of the green belt couldn’t have been better; increased fears about environmental issues and interest in locally grown food, farmers’ markets and the like mean Ontarians are developing an awareness of and an attachment to the greenbelt, or at least, the idea of the greenbelt.
“There’s a good foundation for an emotional connection to the greenbelt,’ says Carter-Whitney. “Polling shows that the public supports the greenbelt. Food has been one of the crucial ties; people realize it is a valuable resource.”
As for all those bottom-feeding local politicians who would rather ignore the greenbelt and its restrictions on development, they have to no choice but to go along with it. It’s the law. Though the province has extended the deadline for municipalities to bring themselves into compliance, the writing on this wall can’t be ignored.
But as Carter-Whitney points out, “Land-use laws and policies are important, but they’re not enough. We need financial support to bolster the greenbelt.”
Tony Coombes of the Neptis Foundation, a Toronto foundation dedicated to researching the urban region, also lauds the greenbelt.
“It’s cause for celebration,” he says. “It’s being really well managed. I think we’ve done a very good job putting it in people’s minds.”
Both Coombes and Carter-Whitney worry that the sprawl machine has leapfrogged the greenbelt to continue the logic of multiplication by subdivision. Then there’s the constant quarrying for aggregates that has already damaged much of the Oak Ridges Moraine.
But, Carter-Whitney explains, “The legislation is quite strong.” And, she adds, in concert with the McGuinty government’s Places to Grow Act, it adds up to a legislative double whammy that should help ease southern Ontario into the smaller future that looms ahead.
“It takes a lot of foresight to put aside land in this manner,” says Carter-Whitney. “As they have discovered in London, the benefits become more apparent as time goes by.”