[flar]

Hamilton isn't forecast to grow that much that it will need to sprawl beyond the greenbelt. Also working against sprawl is provincial legislation that 40% of new developement occur in alredy built areas by 2015. The density target for downtown Hamlton is 200 people and jobs per hectare, which is the same as for downtown Oshawa, Burlington, etc (for comparison, the target is 400 for downtown and other major nodes within TO). Toronto is still the centrepeice of the greater golden horseshoe, Hamilton is just one of many growth centres. This is all according to the provincial government's Places to Grow plan. Also, bus rapid transit is already being planned for Hamilton which will be integrated with intercity transit (GO) in the future.