Doug Ford vows to ‘re-evaluate’ Greenbelt development as critics dismiss ‘sham’ review

Ford announced the move at Queen’s Park on Tuesday morning, less than 24 hours after he was forced to shuffle his cabinet.

Thestar.com, Cbc.ca
Sept. 6, 2023
Rob Ferguson, Kristin Rushowy

Premier Doug Ford says the province will “re-evaluate” all lands in the Greenbelt, but is not pausing development on the 14 parcels at the centre of the $8.28-billion land swap scandal dogging his government.

Ford touted the change in tack a day after the sudden resignation of Steve Clark as municipal affairs and housing minister and a subsequent cabinet shuffle, promising “a complete review, from top to bottom,” for up to 800 pieces of Greenbelt land.

But critics quickly dismissed it as a ploy to make Ontarians think he is backing down on a controversial plan to build 50,000 homes on 14 Greenbelt parcels, and warned it could lead to more protected areas being opened up for construction.

“This is sham,” New Democratic Party Leader Marit Stiles said Tuesday, calling the review “a step in the wrong direction.”

Ford had a message for the owners and developers of the 14 parcels when it comes to building homes to ease a housing shortage that has sent prices skyrocketing to “crisis” levels: “If I don’t see movement, you’re going back into the Greenbelt.”

The premier told reporters Clark called him before posting his resignation on social media Monday morning. But a Progressive Conservative insider, speaking privately to discuss internal deliberations, said there was not enough notice to engineer the cabinet shuffle in advance.

“They didn’t know he was going to quit. If they did, they would have had the cabinet shuffle ready,” said the source, who added the government “underestimated the pounding” it was taking over the land swap.
A new poll from Abacus Data suggests support for the Progressive Conservative government has fallen by seven percentage points among committed voters since late July.

Ford had been standing by Clark, who repeatedly vowed to stay in the job as recently as last Thursday despite two damning reports on the Greenbelt scandal by legislative watchdogs. It took eight hours for the premier’s office to unveil a retooling of the cabinet on Labour Day.

On the Clark resignation, Ford said “he thought it’d be best for the government and for his family and his constituents that he steps aside.”

Clark remains a Brockville-area MPP as government house leader Paul Calandra leaves the long-term-care portfolio to take over municipal affairs and housing.

The premier maintained the Greenbelt review is needed “to ensure that the people of Ontario … have confidence in the decisions we’re making” and did not rule out more land being removed from Greenbelt protection originally intended to preserve farms, wetlands and other ecologically sensitive areas.

Ford said the review will involve civil servants and others bypassed in the most recent Greenbelt exemptions that landed his government in hot water with the integrity commissioner and auditor general, who found Clark’s former chief of staff, Ryan Amato, personally selected 14 of 15 properties to be removed in a “madcap” process that “favoured certain developers.”

The premier again acknowledged that process “wasn’t up to snuff by any means,” and necessitates a wider look in which development proposals “will have to survive on their own merits.” He noted a previous Liberal government’s legislation requires a Greenbelt review every 10 years, with the next due in 2025.

This review will be shepherded by Calandra, who is tasked with driving forward the government’s plan to build 1.5 million homes by 2031.

“As Canada and Ontario continue to grow at a record pace, we need to do more,” said Ford. “I have every confidence that Minister Calandra will deliver.”

Interim Liberal leader John Fraser said the appointment of Calandra -- whom Ford relies on heavily in the legislature’s daily question period to deflect and downplay barbs from rivals -- is more about politics than policy.

“The appointment of Mr. Calandra is very clearly a move that’s not about housing. It’s about protect the king.”

Calandra will hold a news conference at the legislature on Wednesday morning.

Opposition parties said Ford should follow a key recommendation from auditor general Bonnie Lysyk’s scathing Aug. 9 report and put the 14 parcels of land in question back into the Greenbelt with new legislation.

“The premier today declared open season on the Greenbelt,” warned Green Leader Mike Schreiner.

Clark said he had become a “distraction” to the government after integrity commissioner J. David Wake’s report, which determined he violated the Members’ Integrity Act by not properly supervising his chief of staff.

In Wake’s blunt wording, Clark had his “head in the sand.”

Opposition parties said the wholesale Greenbelt review will focus even more attention on the land swap scandal as the legislature returns for its fall session on Sept. 25.

And there are more investigations to come. The integrity commissioner is looking into whether Amato violated public service legislation by not consulting with bureaucrats on the land removals, and into developers attending the stag-and-doe party and wedding for one of Ford’s daughters.

Meanwhile, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police are determining whether to launch a full investigation into “irregularities” in the Greenbelt after inheriting the file from the Ontario Provincial Police, which bowed out to avoid any conflict of interest.