No changes made after consultation process
The Ontario government is moving forward with its plan to build 50,000 new homes in parts of the Greenbelt.
On December 14th, cabinet passed two regulations to remove land in 15 different parts of the Greenbelt and Oak Ridges Moraine.
This comes ten days after a 30 day consultation process ended.
On Wednesday, the government posted it's decision, saying there was strong support for continued protections to the Greenbelt.
"Overall, there was strong support for continued Greenbelt protections and broad opposition to any removals or redesignation of lands under the Greenbelt Plan or Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Plan. Numerous submissions asserted that the proposal is contradictory to the vision and goals of the Greenbelt Plan and requested a full withdrawal of the proposal," the government said.
"No changes were made to the proposal as a result of public consultation."
NDP Leader-elect Marit Stiles says the move is "a complete & utter betrayal of Ontarians."
The government says conservation authorities and Indigenous communities were not in support of the proposed removal, however, it did receive support from Ontario's home building industry.
The proposal was made last month.
Housing Minister Steve Clark presented a plan to build on 7,400 acres of land in 15 different parts of the Greenbelt.
Both Clark and Premier Doug Ford had previously said they would not cut the protected area.
The province has set a goal of building 1.5 million new homes in 10 years.
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