Vaughan Deputy Mayor Michael Di Biase no longer TRCA vice chair

Di Biase didn't seek re-election, but says it's not because of residents' calling for his ouster

Yorkregion.com
March 6, 2017
By Adam Martin-Robbins

Furio Liberatore got some news last week that he's been waiting months to hear.

The lifelong Vaughan resident was happy to learn deputy Mayor Michael Di Biase is no longer vice-chair of the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA), even if it had nothing to do with a small group of residents calling for his ouster.

“I’m glad he’s gone,” Liberatore said Friday. “It’s a step in the right direction for the environment in York Region.”

His comments come after learning Markham councillor Jack Heath is now vice-chair after being acclaimed during annual elections Feb. 24.

Both Heath and Di Biase say this change was the result of previous discussions, not public pressure for Di Biase to step down or be removed.

Back in 2015, Di Biase and Heath both expressed interest in being second in command and decided to square off in an election.

Di Biase won.

In 2016, Heath reportedly approached Di Biase about giving up the position, but he wanted to remain vice-chair for another year. So Heath didn’t run and Di Biase was acclaimed.

This time around, Di Biase says, he didn’t run so Heath could have the job.

“It was just simply working together, making Jack happy,” said Di Biase, who remains on the TRCA executive committee after Richmond Hill Mayor Dave Barrow stepped down.

Regardless, Liberatore is pleased.

He was among a handful of angry residents who, last summer, began calling for Di Biase’s ouster.

They alleged he was working to “undermine” the TRCA's efforts to protect an environmentally sensitive piece of land, known as 230 Grand Trunk Ave., from being developed.

Di Biase denies the allegations.

Calls for his removal as vice-chair escalated in December following a Global News investigation that found Di Biase, back in 2015, tried to pull the TRCA from pleading its case to protect the 4.5-hectare property, home to a wetland as well as a number of endangered and rare species, before the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB).

Di Biase said he was doing the city’s bidding as it reached a settlement with the developer. And, he told Global, Vaughan’s lawyers wanted the city and TRCA to present a united position at the OMB.

The TRCA board ultimately rejected his attempt to withdraw the agency from the OMB hearing and made its case.

In the end, the OMB came up with a compromise that permits development on the western portion of the property while opening the door to potential to development on a middle section, pending further study. A third section at the eastern end, site of a wetland, is off limits.

Di Biase acknowledges Liberatore and other residents are upset with him because of the settlement and OMB ruling, but says he didn’t cause it to happen.

“He (Liberatore) felt that I did not support his cause or the cause of the community, which was not true. Whatever happened was as a result of an OMB hearing.”