Greenbelt protection could be lifted from more land, Doug Ford’s new housing minister says

Ontario’s pending review of all Greenbelt lands will be “public, open and accountable” but new Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Paul Calandra won’t rule out removing more properties from the protected zone to build homes.

Thestar.com
Sept. 7, 2023
Rob Ferguson

Ontario’s pending review of all Greenbelt lands will be “public, open and accountable” but new Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Paul Calandra won’t rule out pulling more properties from the protected zone.

“I will not be stopped on our mission to build 1.5-million homes,” Calandra told a news conference Wednesday, his first since replacing Steve Clark, who resigned over the $8.28-billion Greenbelt land swap scandal.

Developers with local approvals to build will be given “use it or lose it” orders to help Premier Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservative government reach its target by 2031 to ease a housing “crisis” that has resulted in soaring prices, Calandra added, promising details on the review’s parameters soon.

Asked if the review unveiled by Ford on Tuesday could result in more land being removed from the Greenbelt, the minister said that depends on the findings.

“There may be lands that need to be added to the Greenbelt and maybe some lands that are removed, but it will be a fair and open process,” said Calandra, who told reporters he was “very supportive” of removing the properties at the centre of the land swap scandal to build 50,000 homes.

Green Leader Mike Schreiner warned the review -- and Calandra’s comment that more farmland in the Greenbelt could be opened to housing construction -- has sent a signal that will create a bigger “bonanza” for speculators eager to buy and flip protected land for profits.

The Ford government is “more than doubling down, they’re tripling down,” Schreiner said. “I’m sure there’s more that want to cash in.”

Critics of reopening the Greenbelt note that experts say there is enough land already zoned for housing to meet the government’s target, much of it serviced and ready for building.

Interim Liberal Leader John Fraser said the lack of details about the review suggests it is being cobbled together on the fly by a government in crisis mode over the scandal, which forced a rare Labour Day cabinet shuffle.

In an unusual circumstance for a major policy shift, no press releases or explanatory background briefing documents have been released by the government to flesh out the review announcements by Ford and Calandra in the last two days.

“The Conservatives are continuing to make it up as they go along,” Fraser charged as a new Abacus Data poll suggested the Greenbelt scandal is eating into their support.

Calandra briefly mentioned other measures under consideration, including restrictions on sale or transfer of properties for which ministerial zoning orders have been granted and an increase in the non-resident land speculation tax.

The land swap saw 15 properties removed from Greenbelt protection in an insider-driven process that auditor general Bonnie Lysyk found “favoured certain developers” in her damning Aug. 9 report.

All but one of the 15 parcels were personally selected by Clark’s chief of staff Ryan Amato, who resigned last month, bypassing input from civil servants and other land use planning experts after developers handed packages of information to him.

As detailed in his own scathing report a week ago, provincial integrity commissioner J. David Wake described that as a “madcap” scheme made possible only because Clark turned a blind eye and put his “head in the sand.”

He ruled Clark violated the Members’ Integrity Act, which is ethics legislation that applies to MPPs.

Calandra said development plans for the 14 properties at the core of the land swap scandal will be made public by the end of the year.

NDP Leader Marit Stiles called the new review, which Ford said will re-evaluate as many as 800 outstanding requests to remove lands from the Greenbelt, a “sham” and called on the government to put the 14 parcels from the land swap back into Greenbelt protection.

“We don’t need another review to tell us that we need to build housing inside existing municipal areas -- not on prime farmland or vital ecological habitats that lessen the impacts of climate change,” Stiles said.

Meanwhile, Attorney General Doug Downey’s office said Wednesday it is acting on advice in the auditor general’s report to recommend tougher penalties “up to and including jail time” for unregistered lobbyists.

The auditor’s advice was aimed at clamping down on people who try to influence the development process without publicly declaring their interest and involvement on the provincial lobbyist registry. Wake’s report mentions one dubbed “Mr. X.”

Royal Canadian Mounted Police are reviewing the reports from the auditor general, integrity commissioner and other evidence previously gathered by the Ontario Provincial Police as they determine whether to launch a full investigation into Greenbelt “irregularities.”

The OPP referred the case to the Mounties to avoid any potential conflicts of interest.