Phil Pothen - Environmental Defence

Phil Pothen

Program Manager, Land Use and Ontario Environment & Counsel

Phil is a land use planning and environmental lawyer with a background in landscape ecology, landscape architecture and 10 years of experience advising and representing provincial policy-makers, select small builders, and concerned residents. He joined EDC to advance “big-picture” approaches to problems he has dealt with case-by-case – a comprehensive alternative vision for development and industry that meets people’s needs while preserving Ontario’s natural spaces, farmland and other “greenfields” in perpetuity. Having spent his early summers searching out berries, moose tracks and rabbit burrows in the woods and barrens near his house, he has been pleased to introduce his three children to the many similar pleasures available in Toronto’s own urban ravines.

Read Phil's Posts

Oct 16, 2023

Statement: The Ontario Government’s New Greenbelt Bill is only a modest first step towards ending the sprawl and land speculation scandal

Statement by Phil Pothen, Ontario Environment Program Manager on An Act to amend the Greenbelt…

Oct 04, 2023

Statement: Leaked Document Shows Ontario Government Knew Expanding Urban Boundaries Would Make it Harder to Build More Homes

Statement by Phil Pothen, Ontario Environment Program Manager Toronto | Traditional territories of the Mississaugas…

Jul 14, 2023

Changes that will Worsen Ontario’s Housing Crisis and Destroy More Farms, Forests and Wetlands

Even before the present government took office, Ontario was acting far too gently and slowly…

Jun 06, 2023

Which Toronto Mayoral Candidate Will Be Best for the Environment? One Who Delivers on These Key 7 Asks

The provincial government continues to attack Ontario’s environmental protections and force sprawl onto farms and…

May 30, 2023

New Mapping and Analysis Discredits the Ontario Government’s Excuses for Forcing Suburban Boundary Expansions and Removing Greenbelt, Floodplain and Wetland Protections

Ontario could deliver the next 30 years of GTHA homes and workplaces while using just…

Apr 13, 2023

Statement on provincially-imposed Official Plans in Waterloo, Peterborough and four other municipalities

Statement from Phil Pothen, Ontario Environment Program Manager Toronto | Traditional territories of the Mississaugas…

Apr 06, 2023

Ontario to kill Growth Plan: Proposed new planning rules would kneecap housing supply efforts and unleash unprecedented sprawl on Ontario’s forests, farmland and wetlands

Planned changes further exacerbate Ontario’s housing crisis Toronto | Traditional territories of the Mississaugas of…

Apr 04, 2023

Why the Federal Government’s Rouge National Urban Park Study is Exactly What we Need Right Now

On March 21, 2023, Canada’s federal Environment Minister, Stephen Guilbeault, announced that he had commissioned…

Mar 14, 2023

The Golden Horseshoe Needs Zoning Reform, Not the Removal of Greenbelt Land: Thoughts on interpreting data from the Alliance for a Livable Ontario and the Regional Planning Commissioners of Ontario

For several years, Environmental Defence has been rallying concerned Ontario allies in the environmental and…

Dec 15, 2022

Statement from Phil Pothen, Ontario Environment Program Manager, regarding the Ontario Government’s harmful decision to proceed with removing 15 protected areas from the Greenbelt

Toronto | Traditional territories of the Huron-Wendat, the Anishnaabeg, Haudenosaunee, Chippewas and the Mississaugas of…