Watch: how to save Ontario’s ‘precarious’ Greenbelt from development pressure
An all-star panel of experts offers insights about sustainable growth and how to keep Southern Ontario’s protected gem safe, even as proposals to build highways and kickstart development threaten to chip it away
The Ford government is proposing two highway projects that would cut through the Greenbelt.
Photo: Christopher Katsarov Luna / The Narwhal
Ontario’s Greenbelt is facing an uncertain moment.
The COVID-19 pandemic and the climate crisis have made the protection of natural places more important than ever, especially in sprawl-intensive southern Ontario. At the same time, the forests and farmland of the Greenbelt may be chipped away by plans to build highways and open up pockets for development.
“The Greenbelt cannot just be lines on a map,” Conservation Halton CEO Hassaan Basit said at a Thursday panel discussion hosted by The Narwhal about the future of the protected space.
“It cannot continue to be something that’s precarious… that’s chipped away.”
So how can the Greater Toronto Area grow sustainably, and how should governments be stewarding the Greenbelt to keep it safe — or even make it bigger?
Basit and two other expert panellists, former provincial planner Victor Doyle and Wildlife Conservation Society Canada president and senior scientist Justina Ray, came together with The Narwhal’s Ontario bureau for a webinar to help us find answers. Watch it below or read a Twitter play-by-play of the discussion.
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The Ford government is proposing two highway projects that would cut through the Greenbelt.
Photo: Christopher Katsarov Luna / The Narwhal
It was a chilly winter day...
when news broke that photojournalist Amber Bracken had been arrested by the RCMP while reporting for The Narwhal from Wet’suwet’en territory in northwestern B.C.
“Soon they would put me in handcuffs and take my cameras from me,” Amber said. “After that they would take my rights.”
As a small, non-profit news organization, we didn’t want to take one of the most powerful organizations in our country to court. Ultimately, we realized we had no other choice — because an absence of journalism leaves us all in the dark.
We wouldn’t be able to take this stand for press freedom — or send journalists like Amber to cover critically important environmental stories — without the ongoing support of thousands of members like you who make The Narwhal possible.
when news broke that photojournalist Amber Bracken had been arrested by the RCMP while reporting for The Narwhal from Wet’suwet’en territory in northwestern B.C.
“Soon they would put me in handcuffs and take my cameras from me,” Amber said. “After that they would take my rights.”
As a small, non-profit news organization, we didn’t want to take one of the most powerful organizations in our country to court. Ultimately, we realized we had no other choice — because an absence of journalism leaves us all in the dark.
We wouldn’t be able to take this stand for press freedom — or send journalists like Amber to cover critically important environmental stories — without the ongoing support of thousands of members like you who make The Narwhal possible.
The Narwhal’s Ontario bureau is telling stories you won’t find anywhere else. Keep up with the latest scoops by signing up for a weekly dose of our independent journalism.
We’re investigating Ontario’s environmental cuts
The Narwhal’s Ontario bureau is telling stories you won’t find anywhere else. Keep up with the latest scoops by signing up for a weekly dose of our independent journalism.
