Province scraps housing plan over farmer opposition

Ontario has backed off a housing proposal that farmers say would have had a “catastrophic” effect on farmland and livestock operations.

Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Steve Clark proposed a series of regulations along with a bill that would allow for more housing to be built beyond urban boundaries and in rural areas, including allowing up to three new lots on parcels of farmland.

But more than a dozen farming organizations, including the National Farmers Union — Ontario, the Ontario Federation of Agriculture, the Beef Farmers of Ontario and the Dairy Farmers of Ontario, issued a joint letter urging the government to abandon the proposal.

Those changes would hamper growth of livestock farming, fragment the agricultural land base and risk inflating farmland prices, shutting out prospective new farmers, they said.

Premier Doug Ford met late last week with farmers, and the government has decided not to proceed with the lot severance proposal, Clark wrote in a letter to the OFA.

The government originally suggested the severances as a way to support farm families, Clark noted.

“We understand that farming is often a multi-generational family enterprise, and our government has been asked by many farmers to offer practical support to them and their families by making it easier for the next generation to live and work in the same place where they grew up,” he wrote.

“At the same time, we have clearly heard the concerns that have been raised about the need to preserve Ontario’s farmland — and we share that goal …

“We want to continue working with the agricultural sector to look at alternatives that would assist farm families in succession planning, but do not involve additional severances.”

The proposed bill would allow for more housing beyond urban boundaries, including new lots on parcels of farmland