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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

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…

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Dec 08, 2022

Statement: Bill 39 is a public giveaway and breach of MPPs’ promise to not to touch the Greenbelt

Statement from Phil Pothen, Ontario Environment Program Manager, Environmental Defence Toronto | Traditional territories of…

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Nov 28, 2022

Statement: Bill 23 will Unleash a Firestorm of Environmentally Destructive Rural Sprawl – It Must Be Repealed

Statement by Phil Pothen, Ontario Environmental Program Manager, Environmental Defence Toronto | Traditional territories of…

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Nov 04, 2022

Statement: The Ontario government’s proposed 7,400 acre giveaway to land speculators is a death sentence for the entire Greenbelt

Statement from Phil Pothen, Ontario Environment Program Manager, Environmental Defence Toronto | Traditional territories of…

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Oct 31, 2022

Ontario’s Housing Bill is Actually a Trojan Horse for Environmentally Catastrophic Rural Sprawl

Statement and Detailed Analysis of Bill 23 from Phil Pothen, Ontario Environment Program Manager, Environmental Defence…

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Oct 25, 2022

Media Advisory: Phil Pothen, Ontario Environment Program Manager, available for comment and interviews following Minister Clark’s housing related announcements at the Toronto Region Board of Trade

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

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Sep 15, 2022

Environmental Defence Urges Municipal Candidates to Protect Ontario’s Environment by Building A Lot More Homes in Existing Neighbourhoods 

Homes for 1.4 million more needed in Toronto by 2051, while other communities must quickly…

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Sep 08, 2022

In This Year’s Municipal Election, Densifying Post-WWII Suburbs Is Environmental Priority #1

Sprawl has got to stop, and this fall’s municipal elections are your chance to make…

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Jun 14, 2022

5 Things You Can Do Over the Summer to Protect Ontario’s Environment

In the recent election, a solid majority of Ontarians voted for candidates who promised to…

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