Integrity commissioner asked to investigate Ford’s Greenbelt development plan

Since Ontario Premier Doug Ford was first elected four years ago, developers have paid tens of million of dollars for a number of properties that include protected lands the province is now proposing to carve out of the Greenbelt. As recently as September of this year, a company called Green Lane Bathurst GP purchased a piece of land in the King Township, subject to Greenbelt protections for $80 million dollars!

During the 2018 election campaign, Doug Ford promised not to touch the Greenbelt – a vast arc of farmland, forests, and wetlands across Southern Ontario. The Ford government reversed itself earlier this month, announcing plans to remove 7,400 acres from 15 different areas of the Greenbelt while adding 9,400 acres elsewhere so that 50,000 homes can be built. The government says that would result in a net increase of 2,000 acres. That’s despite previous promises from Ford and Clark that they wouldn’t touch the Greenbelt.

The proposal to open up the Greenbelt to development has sparked protest from environmentalists, agriculture advocates and land-use experts who argue that swapping one piece for another may be ineffective, because land has different environmental values, and that this also paves the way for other developers to push for their properties to be removed from the Greenbelt.

Ontario’s integrity commissioner is being asked to investigate whether Premier Doug Ford’s
plan to open parts of the protected Greenbelt for development broke any ethics rules. Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner has filed the complaint and says Ontarians deserve transparency about the decision because it has the appearance of harming the environment for the benefit of private developers.

“This doesn’t pass the smell test, that land speculators are purchasing land in the Greenbelt that is supposedly permanently protected,” Schreiner said Tuesday.

Media reports have suggested that some prominent developers who are Progressive Conservative donors stand to benefit from the move. Some bought that land in the past few years despite Ford and Clark’s public pronouncements it wouldn’t be developed.

Clark was asked multiple times Tuesday, including in question period, whether he tipped off any developers that parcels of Greenbelt land would soon become much more valuable. When asked for a yes or no response, he refused to deny the allegation.

Clark said he followed the rules for posting his Greenbelt proposal to the environmental registry for a public comment period. Those public comments are due by Dec. 4.

The minister was asked very clearly, three times, if they talked to developers in advance and gave them a head’s up before they opened up land for development, Greenbelt land that Ontarians hold dear. The minister failed to answer the question. Ontarians want to know why.

Ontario created the Greenbelt in 2005 to protect agricultural and environmentally sensitive lands in the Greater Golden Horseshoe area from development.