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Ontario wants to boost housing in Golden Horseshoe, says it won't open the Greenbelt

Ontario is proposing changes to the Greater Golden Horseshoe's growth plan that the government says would make it easier and faster to build housing.

Government says changes would maintain protections for area designated as environmentally sensitive

The Canadian Press ·
A 'For Sale' sign in front of a single-family home.
Critics have suggested the Progressive Conservative government wants to open the door to Greenbelt development, but it has denied that charge. (Jonathan Hayward/Canadian Press)

Ontario is proposing changes to the Greater Golden Horseshoe's growth plan that the government says would make it
easier and faster to build housing.

The government says the changes would come while maintaining protections for the Greenbelt, an area designated to keep environmentally sensitive land from urban development.

Critics have suggested the Progressive Conservative government wants to open the door to Greenbelt development, but it has denied that charge. 

The proposed changes to the growth plan include some eased density targets.

The previous targets, introduced by the former Liberal government as anti-sprawl measures, had been blamed by some critics for a housing supply shortage in the Toronto area.

The government says the current vacancy rate in Toronto is close to one per cent, and two to three per cent is generally considered to represent a balanced rental market.

Members of the public have 45 days to comment on the proposals on the province's regulatory and environmental registries. 

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