Doug Ford won’t compensate developers for Greenbelt flip-flop

There will be no green for the Greenbelt developers who had hoped to profit from Premier Doug Ford’s $8.28-billion land swap.

Thestar.com
Sept. 28, 2023
Robert Benzie

There will be no green for the Greenbelt developers who had hoped to profit from Premier Doug Ford’s $8.28-billion land swap.

“We ... are not going to be providing any compensation with respect to any potential changes that were contemplated,” Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Paul Calandra said Wednesday.

“There is no compensation that will be made available to any of the people who might have been building in that area,” said Calandra, who is tabling a bill within weeks that would “codify the boundaries of the Greenbelt in legislation.”

His law will formalize Ford’s flip-flop of last Thursday that returned 7,400 acres of land to the two-million-acre protected swath surrounding the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area.

“The premier said very clearly it was a policy decision that the people of the province did not support. That is why we’re returning those lands to the Greenbelt,” the minister said.

Two cabinet ministers have resigned over the scandal that has sent Ford’s polling numbers tumbling.

NDP Leader Marit Stiles said “the premier has had his hands in everything” related to the scandal, which the auditor general found led to some well-connected developers received favourable treatment from the Tories.

Liberal MPP Stephanie Bowman (Don Valley West) noted Ford’s “flawed process” for selecting the lands to be removed from the Greenbelt last year resulted in a massive potential “windfall for his developer friends.”

The premier lifted the protections in order to expedite home construction to tackle Ontario’s housing crisis.

But critical reports from the auditor and the integrity commissioner last month forced Ford to slam the brakes on the scheme and do a policy U-turn.

“It was a mistake to open the Greenbelt. I’m very, very sorry,” he said last week.

“I made a promise to you that I wouldn’t touch the Greenbelt. I broke that promise. As a first step to earning back your trust, I’ll be reversing the changes.”

Asked at the time if he fears lawsuits from disappointed developers, Ford said, “I can’t predict the future, but my main goal is to work with the builders because they’re part of this solution (to the housing shortage).”

The Star reported last Thursday that the government is confident there will be no litigation because developers have other projects in the pipeline requiring provincial co-operation and approvals.