While I hate using words created out of an ignorant understanding of history, for the sake of simplicity, I will make an argument to justify so-called extremification. First, read
this article about why Bill Clinton has become a vegan and does not eat any added oils. For years, he had an extremely unhealthy diet of burgers, donuts, and fries that eventually forced him to need heart surgery. To save himself from the any worse problems, Clinton now has an equally extremely healthy diet.
What does this have to do with extremification?
For decades, Ottawa's urban area swallowed up unhealthy amounts of land with highly wasteful and inefficient land use patterns. Now we must build really high density development on the remaining urban land to make up for years of bad development. We could've built a lot of medium density development such as semi-detached housing, row housing, and low-rise apartments that would've nullified the need for building high density development. However that was not what was encouraged by planners, politicians, and developers. Extremification is not ideal. However it's the only way people and families will be able to lead affordable, resilient lifestyles in the 21st Century.