Ford government backs down on plan that could have opened up the Greenbelt to development

TheStar.com
Jan 24, 2019
Rob Ferguson

The Ford government is backing down on a plan that, critics warned, would have put Ontario’s Greenbelt and prime farmland around Toronto at greater risk of development by allowing municipalities to bypass building restrictions

Municipal Affairs Minister Steve Clark announced the reversal in a series of three Twitter posts on Wednesday afternoon, saying the offending portion of Bill 66, the Restoring Ontario’s Competitiveness Act, will be dropped when the legislature resumes sitting in February.

“All along they talked about not touching the Greenbelt, but this would have allowed them to actually do that,” said Keith Currie, president of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture, who had raised concerns the Progressive Conservatives were mounting a “direct attack” on family farms.

Clark acknowledged the province “has listened to the concerns raised by MPPs, municipalities and stakeholders” by pledging to “not proceed” with a portion of the bill known as schedule 10.

“In December, our government brought forward Bill 66 which amongst other things proposed changes that would create a new economic development tool for municipalities to shorten the time it takes to build job-creating projects,” he added.

“The use of this tool would never be approved at the expense of the Greenbelt or other provincial interests like water quality or public health and safety,” Clark said.
But the New Democrats said Ford got caught for the second time trying to raid the 1.8-million acre Greenbelt, noting he was “caught in a video” during the spring election campaign promising developers he would open up the protected lands.

“We know we’re going to have to be vigilant,” the party added in a statement. “This is now twice that Ford has tried to punch holes in our Greenbelt, and twice that he’s had to back down.”

Green Leader Mike Schreiner, MPP for Guelph, called the reversal “a victory for citizen engagement” and said the furor over the Ford election Greenbelt video shows “the people of Ontario want to protect the Greenbelt.”

“I’m glad they decided to listen and are taking action,” said Currie, echoing remarks from the lobby group Environmental Defence.

“This environmentally destructive bill’s schedule 10 would have opened up the Greenbelt, Oak Ridges Moraine, Lake Simcoe and source-water protection areas to development,” executive director Tim Gray stated.

“This is a major victory for the citizens who put up lawn signs, signed petitions, made calls to their MPPs and rallied outside their offices.”

The one-paragraph schedule 10 to the bill would have amended the Planning Act to allow municipalities to pass “open for business” bylaws for companies creating a minimum of 50 jobs, bypassing existing development requirements and restrictions.

Projects could have been green-lighted with provincial approvals within one year, allowing businesses to begin construction.

Clark had previously maintained municipalities need more “flexibility…on how and where they grow” as the government pushes to attract jobs and improve the supply of housing to ease upward pressure on home prices.