Doug Ford cancels controversial $8.28-billion Greenbelt land swap: ‘It was a mistake’

The premier is scrapping his controversial Greenbelt land swap in a desperate bid to salvage his sputtering Progressive Conservative government.

Thestar.com
Sept. 22, 2023
Rob Ferguson, Robert Benzie, Kristin Rushowy

Premier Doug Ford is scrapping his controversial Greenbelt land swap in a desperate bid to salvage his sputtering Progressive Conservative government.

In a stunning U -- turn following the eruption of the $8.28-billion scandal last month, a glum -- sounding Ford announced Thursday he was reversing the removal of the 7,400 acres from the two-million-acre protected swath of land.

“It was a mistake to open the Greenbelt,” he said following weeks of mounting pressure to return the lands that his own government’s housing supply task force insisted were not needed. “I’m very, very sorry.”

The controversy has forced the resignation of two cabinet ministers and two key aides so far, and sent the Tories’ poll numbers plunging.

“I made a promise to you that I wouldn’t touch the Greenbelt. I broke that promise,” the premier told reporters in the parking lot of a hotel where he was attending a PC caucus retreat to prepare for Monday’s return of the legislature -- and got an earful from his own MPPs about they heat they have been taking.

“As a first step to earning back your trust, I’ll be reversing the changes,” he said, joined by most of his cabinet. “We moved too quickly and we made the wrong decision it caused people to question our motives.”

Neither Silvio De Gasperis nor Michael Rice -- the two most prominent developers whose land was taken out of the Greenbelt to build housing -- was available for comment.

Their land would be worth billions of dollars if it could be developed and considerably less if homes cannot be built.

Asked if the government fears lawsuits from disappointed developers, the premier said, “I can’t predict the future, but my main goal is to work with the builders because they’re part of this solution.”

A senior Progressive Conservative official, speaking confidentially in order to discuss internal deliberations, said the government does not believe the spurned developers will sue over the change.

That’s because each of them has other projects in the pipeline that will require provincial co-operation and approvals.

“It wouldn’t be in their long-term interest to pursue litigation,” the insider said.

Ford said the fast-growing province remains in a housing crisis where a shortage of homes has led to skyrocketing prices. His government has set a goal of building 1.5 million homes by 2031.

One developer, who attended the wedding of Ford’s daughter last year and had stakes in two small parcels totalling about 23 acres that were removed from the Greenbelt near Markham and Whitchurch-Stouffville, said he had no problem with Ford’s reversal.

“We respect and agree with today’s announcement by the provincial government to put the lands back in the Greenbelt,” said Shakir Rehmatullah, president of Flato Developments.

Rehmatullah said his company will continue to build homes in accordance with all municipal and provincial requirements, and will “look forward to continuing to address the need for more, diverse housing in the province.”

The Greenbelt reversal is a significant flip-flop for Ford, who last month had insisted “no one had preferential treatment” in the land swap -- contrary to an Aug. 9 report from auditor general Bonnie Lysyk that found it “favoured certain developers”-- and stressed the properties were needed to tackle the housing shortage.

“This comes down to one thing: making sure that we build homes as quickly as possible. What we’re doing is trying to build the 50,000 homes for people that need it,” he said on Aug. 11, referring specifically to the 7,400 acres in question.

Critics questioned the sincerity of Ford’s reversal and apology following damning reports last month by the auditor general and provincial integrity commissioner J. David Wake into the land swap.

“It shouldn’t have taken Mr. Ford and his ministers getting caught making shady backroom deals with speculators for Ford to do the right thing,” New Democratic Party Leader Marit Stiles told reporters at Queen’s Park.

In the swap, 14 of the 15 parcels of land were personally selected by former municipal affairs and housing minister Steve Clark’s chief of staff, Ryan Amato, with input from select developers and bypassing advice from neutral civil servants in a process Ford has acknowledged was not “up to par.”

“This is the same premier who called the Greenbelt a ‘scam, a field of weeds’ just a couple of months ago,” said Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner.

“How can we trust that he won’t try the same thing again with his Greenbelt review in a year or two?”
Interim Liberal leader John Fraser said many questions remain about the swap.

“Ontarians need to get to the bottom of this,” Fraser said.

Phil Pothen of the lobby group Environmental Defence called for more Greenbelt protections “to ensure future governments can’t try this again” and warned more urban sprawl “will only worsen Ontario’s housing shortage.”

The premier’s dramatic change of heart came the day after Kaleed Rasheed quit as public and business service delivery minister and left the Tory caucus after misleading the integrity commissioner during an ethics investigation into Clark, whose Labour Day resignation took the premier’s office by surprise and forced a quick cabinet shuffle.

Rasheed’s office provided incorrect dates for a winter 2020 trip to Las Vegas, where he said he ran into Rehmatullah. Ford’s principal secretary at the time, Amin Massoudi, and Jae Truesdell, who resigned Thursday as the premier’s director of housing policy, were also on the trip.

Wake’s report said Rasheed acknowledged being “close friends” with Rehmatullah and said he was “shocked” to see him in a Las Vegas hotel. But CTV reported the trio had massages scheduled at the same time on the same day at the same spa, raising questions as to whether it was a chance meeting.

“To be very frank with you, not advised,” Ford said when asked about the discrepancies.

In his Aug. 30 report, the integrity commissioner found Clark violated the Members’ Integrity Act by putting his “head in the sand” and not properly supervising Amato, who resigned Aug. 22.

The next day, the RCMP branch that probes corruption and political crimes announced it was looking into “irregularities” related to the land swap after the case was referred by the Ontario Provincial Police to avoid any potential conflict of interest.

“I don’t get involved in any police investigation at all,” Ford said Thursday. “They have a job to do.”

He maintained a previous Liberal government’s scandal over the cancellation of two natural-gas-fired power plants before the 2011 election -- which resulted in an OPP investigation and jail time for former premier Dalton McGuinty chief of staff David Livingston over the wiping of computer hard drives -- was worse because of the $1 billion in extra costs to move the plants elsewhere.