Doug Ford defends lack of public hearings on Greenbelt protection bill

The Progressive Conservative government is not holding public hearings into its new Greenbelt protection law because most Ontarians “don’t give two hoots about that,” says Ford.

Thestar.com
Nov. 21, 2023
Robert Benzie

The Progressive Conservative government is not holding public hearings into its new Greenbelt protection law because most Ontarians “don’t give two hoots about that,” says Premier Doug Ford.

Ford was under fire Monday from the opposition New Democrats over the new legislation designed to prevent development on the two-million-acre swath of environmentally sensitive land around the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area.

His Tories tabled the bill on Oct. 16, less than a month after he was forced to cancel his plans to build housing on 7,400 acres of the Greenbelt.

The RCMP has launched a criminal probe of the scheme the auditor general and the integrity commissioner said “favoured” certain developers with ties to Ford.

NDP MPP Sandy Shaw (Hamilton West-Ancaster-Dundas) demanded to know why there will only be one hour of committee hearings on Bill 136, the Greenbelt Statute Law Amendment Act.

“The minister intends to use up that entire hour. Ontarians are rightfully outraged by this government’s actions on the Greenbelt, so why are you blocking the public from being heard?” Shaw said during the legislature’s morning question period.

Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Paul Calandra defended his planned appearance, noting the bill has broad support from all parties.

“I’m a pretty entertaining guy when I get up there. I add value to the hearings. I think that the members opposite would want to hear from cabinet ministers,” said Calandra.

“When it comes to the Greenbelt Statute Law Amendment Act, we’ve made it clear. We made a public-policy decision that wasn’t supported by the people of the province of Ontario,” he said of the flip-flop.

“The opposition, I assume, was going to vote in favour of that repeal. At the same time, it is still on the environmental registry for a 30-day consultation from people and from Indigenous communities. There is ample opportunity for the public to participate and to have their say.”

After Calandra’s response, a rankled Ford took Shaw to task.

“To answer the opposition’s question, she said, ‘We need to hear from the public.’ Do you know why you aren’t hearing from the public? They don’t give two hoots about that,” thundered the premier.

“I’ll tell you what they care about: They care about their interest rates going up; they care about affordable homes that they block every single vote we have that makes things easier,” he said about the NDP’s opposition to his government’s housing plans.

“They worry about the next year or two when their interest rates get jacked up. All of a sudden, they’re paying $3,000, $4,000, or $5,000 more a month. That’s what they care about,” said Ford.

The premier was visibly unhappy when the New Democrats peppered him with questions about Amin Massoudi, his former principal secretary and a close friend, who billed the Tory caucus services bureau $237,300 from July 1, 2022 through this past March 31.

“Did the premier’s friend double-bill the taxpayers for speech-writing services because he was, indeed, a close friend of the premier?” asked NDP Leader Marit Stiles, noting Massoudi did not leave as Ford’s principal secretary until Aug. 27, 2022.

“No,” replied Calandra.

Massoudi, for his part, told the Star his caucus services bureau contract “started after I left the premier’s office.”

“To my knowledge, it is not uncommon for governments to seek this type of external communications support from subject matter experts,” he said.

“Prior to signing this agreement, I spoke with the integrity commissioner and sought his advice on the potential to continue providing communications and speech writing support with PCCS. I closely followed his advice as I worked on this contract.”

The former aide made headlines earlier this year when it emerged he had been on a winter 2020 trip to Las Vegas with MPP Kaleed Rasheed and Jae Truesdell where they went for massages with wealthy Greenbelt land owner Shakir Rehmatullah.

Rasheed was forced to resign from cabinet and Truesdell had to quit as Ford’s housing adviser in the wake of that revelation.