Conference Board Slams Sprawl
September 7, 2005

A report released this week by the Conference Board of Canada calls for an end to planning policies that have consumed more than 150,000 acres of green space and farmland in the Greater Golden Horseshoe since 1993. It notes this is "almost exactly equal to the land area now occupied by the City of Toronto."

A media release on the report quotes the Board's CEO, Ann Golden, that "the top priority must be reducing incentives to sprawl."

The report summarizes Premier McGuinty's spring "Leaders Forum on Strategic Growth" that took place in Toronto on May 12. It strongly endorses recent provincial moves to impose growth standards and controls on municipalities. "Establishment of such an authority is crucial to altering growth patterns in the face of multiple jurisdictions and opposition from parties interested in preserving the status quo."

Downtown councillor Bob Bratina drew attention to the report at Tuesday's planning committee meeting. He read portions of a news article about the report to his council colleagues and suggested that the Board's criticisms are particularly applicable to Hamilton which recently decided to absorb 3100 acres of farmland into its urban boundary in hopes of developing an aerotropolis. That decision has been appealed by both the provincial government and by local citizens organized in a group called Hamiltonians for Progressive Development.

The Conference Board applauds improving public transit and says experience in the golden horseshoe and elsewhere "shows that adding lanes to solve traffic congestion is like loosening one's belt to deal with obesity, since traffic quickly fills up any new road space built."

The report also argues that future prosperity and health requires that municipal governments "put in place growth patterns that decrease reliance on automobiles in favour of travel by foot, bicycle and public transit." It goes on to predict that "if we don't plan for growth and reduce car dependence, gridlock will worsen by as much as 45 per cent over the next 30 years, with a typical trip from Hamilton to Toronto taking more than two hours."

More information about the report can be accessed at http://www.conferenceboard.ca/press/2005/Premiers_Forum.asp.