Ontario’s Bill 23 (the More Homes Built Faster Act) and the since-abandoned proposal to develop in the Greenbelt endanger Niagara’s agricultural lands. Canada’s farmland has been slowly shrinking for decades, which threatens food security. The housing we need can be built within our existing urban boundaries, and our farmlands should be preserved.

Ontario’s greenbelt policies exist because some of Canada’s best Class 1 soils are also in high-demand urban areas. Only 0.5% of Canada’s land area is Class 1 soil. Niagara’s farmland is among the most valuable and irreplaceable agricultural land in Canada, with large areas of Class 1 and Class 2 soils. Because of the moderating effects of Lake Ontario and Lake Erie, Niagara has a longer growing season and milder winters than most of Canada, meaning we can grow more food, and a wider variety of food, than almost anywhere else in the country. If this land is given over to development, it will effectively be gone forever, not only with a major impact on Niagara’s economy but on Canada’s food security.

Only about 5% of Canada’s land is arable, and we have been losing it at a slow but steady rate. Between 1971 and 2021, 7.6 million hectares of farmland was lost – about 11% of Canada’s total. This land was often prime, high-value agricultural soil that is difficult or impossible to replace. The number of farms in the same time period fell from 366,000 to 190,000 – fewer farms on less land, and a loss of small farms to larger ones.

Niagara’s population is projected to grow by 30-40% over the next quarter century. Development pressure for new housing is greatest in precisely the same places as Niagara’s best soil.

The Government of Ontario’s Housing Affordability Task Force released a report in 2022 which found that Ontario could meet its housing needs (1.5 million homes by 2031) without using any Greenbelt land.

The GNCC accepts the Housing Affordability Task Force’s findings that our housing targets can be met without developing on agricultural and employment lands. We support more intensive use of existing lands and developing within urban boundaries to preserve Niagara’s stock of agricultural and employment lands, and we advocate against re-zoning these lands for housing when suitable sites exist within urban boundaries.