Hundreds join anti-sprawl 'mega rally' at Hamilton city hall

Hundreds of people, including several local political leaders, attended the "Save the Farmland Mega Rally" held at Hamilton city hall on Sunday in protest against Bill 23, the More Homes Built Faster Act.

Protesters at the Dec. 4 rally said they were afraid the bill will damage local food supplies and the environment and were concerned because the bill would override a decision Hamilton councillors made in 2021 to limit its urban boundary expansion.

"It's important for all of us to show up and raise our voices to let the provincial government know that what they're doing is absolutely horrendous," said protester Jessica Bonilla-Damptey. "The destruction of our land, and the destruction of our water worries me and not taking care of our planet that we're tasked to take care of."

The Ontario government passed the bill on Nov. 28, which plans to build 1.5 million homes over ten years across the province, using rural plots and greenbelt spaces as building plots while adding other spaces to the greenbelt.

Donna Skelly, the PC MPP for Flamborough—Glanbrook, told CBC Hamilton, "We are talking about developing lands earmarked for this years ago … it isn't being farmed."

"The land we're talking about isn't earmarked for mansions. We're talking about townhouses and multiplex homes and intensification around transit routes. We're doing everything we can to address the housing crisis." 

Local farmers are feeling the pressure... We lose 319 acres a day now before Bill 23, that is 75 million carrots or 23.5 million apples or 1.2 million bottles of Vintners Quality Alliance wine.- Peggy Brekveld, president of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture

Drew Spoelstra, vice president of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA) disagrees. He said in an interview with CBC, "the greenbelt lands weren't ever earmarked for development. This is land supposedly permanently protected for agriculture use."

"There's plenty of space now within the urban boundary to build on and to meet the goals of the growth plan and get anyone that needs one, a house or a place to live," he said.

Peggy Brekveld, president of the OFA said "once farmland turns into concrete and asphalt, it never goes back to farmland."

"Local farmers are feeling the pressure... We lose 319 acres a day now before Bill 23, that is 75 million carrots or 23.5 million apples or 1.2 million bottles of Vintners Quality Alliance wine. We can't continue to treat farmland this way, only five per cent of our province is arable, or farmland," she said.

Eight of Hamilton's city councillors attended the rally. 

Burlington Mayor Marianne Meed Ward, in a phone interview with CBC, said Bill 23 was "a provincially mandated developer subsidy." She's one of several Ontario mayors who have spoken out, critical of Premier Doug Ford's plan.

"We already have a housing strategy that we are implementing. We want solutions that work, not a windfall for developers and investors that would do nothing to help first-time homebuyers get into the market," she said.

Several well-established developers are among the owners of land the Ford government is proposing to open up for housing in the protected Greenbelt, a CBC analysis of dozens of land registry and corporate records has found.

MP Matthew Green gave a speech at the rally, questioning Ford's motives and demanding a full criminal investigation of his government saying "we want to know who knew what, when and who leaked the information to these greedy corporations and speculators."

Hamilton protests against Bill 23 and urban sprawl

In all, there were about five hundred protesters at the rally. 

Erin Arris, of the Ontario Nurses Association, was among them and said the bill would impact the physical and social health of Ontarians. "It is important that we join in the effort to have this rescinded and struck down, to protect water, protect affordable housing and against pollution."

Adam Wong works in automation and said "Bill 23 guts the protections of the land." He said "We're not heading towards a proper climate solution in the future, we're working in the opposite direction."

Catie Gilbert, 17, enjoys art and activism and worries Bill 23 will destroy the city's local ecosystem. "I knew that even if it was just one person, that one person can strengthen the group... I got a lot of good information on how I can help locally."