Ontario farm group vows to fight for farmland protection, challenge Ford's housing bill

An Ontario organization representing agriculture says it will be pushing for a number of policy protections around farmland in the face of the Ford government’s new housing bill.

At a webinar on Thursday held by the Ontario Federation of Agriculture concerning Bill 23, the More Homes Built Faster Act, members were told a number of measures in the legislation will further contribute to the loss of farmland and were asked to contact their MPPs to make their concerns known.

The OFA highlighted how Bill 23 ends third-party appeals on planning applications, reduces the charges developers are required to pay for building permits on affordable and rental units, and restricts regional bodies' planning authority. These measures, members heard, give developers preferential treatment and get rid of checks and balances that would allow producers or residents to make the case for farmland preservation.

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“We don't need to remind everybody that farmland is an essential resource for the sustainability and security of our food systems, environments and, of course, our economy,” said Emily Sousa, a farm policy analyst with OFA. “The capacity of farmland and agricultural industries to provide this value depends on the availability and the quality of that farmland available.”

More than half of Canada's most productive soils are in Ontario, and the province’s agriculture industry contributes $47 billion annually to the provincial economy. Prior to the introduction of the legislation, census data showed that 319 acres of farmland are lost each day in the province. That’s an amount equivalent to 797 hockey rinks, 58 city blocks or 4,785 tennis courts.

The OFA noted that it wasn't provided any time to offer feedback before the bill was passed. It said an ideal public policy outcome would be getting the government to reverse some of its highlighted concerns, or to offer exemptions related to farmland. In the case of development charges, members heard that the OFA would be asking for a province-wide exemption for development charges related to agriculture projects and provincial funding to municipalities to avoid the significant property tax increases that residents, including farmers, will face. The OFA has also been asking the Ontario government to be intentional about development, like targeting higher-density areas and regions close to major transit areas instead of paving over farmland.

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Some participants also inquired about the role they could be asking the federal government to play and were told it could pass legislation to protect natural resources, including farmland.

OFA vice-president Drew Spoelstra also told iPolitics that federal funding for a national farmland preservation strategy could be helpful. The organization, he said, was also looking into how it could provide testimony to the Senate’s study on soil health as an effort to drive some action in Ottawa.

“This housing bill is essentially looking to build another city of Toronto over the next 10 years, and that would certainly gobble up a good pile of land, especially if it’s not done correctly,” he said.

Spoelstra’s family owns and farms on the Greenbelt in Binbrook, Ont. He said that in the coming weeks, the OFA would be meeting with municipal and rural organizations to put additional pressure on the Ford government to preserve the Greenbelt in the name of food security.

He is hopeful they will be successful, citing the nearly 200 participants who signed in to the OFA webinar, many of whom expressed interest in getting involved.

“There’s a number of opportunities, and we’re going to keep taking our concerns to the government and hold their feet to the fire,” he said. “This issue isn’t going away. We’re going to keep it front and centre for our rural members and farmers.”