Ontario Greenbelt Controversy

by Maj (ret'd) CORNELIU. CHISU, CD, PMSC, FEC, CET, P. Eng. Former Member of Parliament Pickering-Scarborough East A new controversy is brewing in Ontario; this time it is regarding housing. It is due, again, to the incompetence of elected and public service officials in Ontario. It is clear that the process of removing land from the Greenbelt was amateurish and done in haste. Two independent, legislative watchdogs — in successive reports released just weeks apart from each other — found major flaws with the province's decision to remove land from the Greenbelt last December for the purpose of building housing. The Integrity Commissioner J. David Wake found that Housing Minister Steve Clark chose to "stick his head in the sand" rather than oversee the process of selecting which sites would be removed from the Greenbelt — a vast 810,000-hectare area of protected farmland, forest and wetland stretching from Niagara Falls to Peterborough meant to be permanently off-limits to development. Instead, Minister Clark left it to his chief of staff at the time, Ryan Amato, whose actions alerted some developers to a potential policy change and resulted in their private interests being improperly advanced, the integrity commissioner found. That report came just two weeks after Ontario Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk's report first revealed how a small group of well-connected developers suggested to Amato many of the sites that would ultimately be removed, providing the landowners with a potential windfall upwards of $8 billion. It is clear that the impact of the Greenbelt controversy has put pressure on the Ford government, and has ultimately resulted in the resignation of Minister Clark and a brief government reshuffle. Nevertheless, there are further ramifications that also smell of corruption. The file has been referred to the RCMP; and let us see what comes next. Indeed, the national police agency is assessing whether or not to conduct an investigation of its own into the Greenbelt land swap after receiving a referral from the Ontario Provincial Police. The Ford government is now in damage control mode. The province says it is willing to reinstate environmental protections on land removed from the Greenbelt if it believes landowners will not be able to meet the government's directive that developers show significant progress on approvals by the end of this year, with construction to begin in 2025. There was a time when Ontario premiers and cabinet ministers understood the concept of “ministerial responsibility” and acted accordingly — but that was long ago. This controversy raises a question in the Durham Region, especially in the city of Pickering, and that is: where is the MPP for Pickering Uxbridge and Minister of Finance Peter Bethlenfalvy? In this entire Greenbelt process, which has seen a significant amount of Greenbelt land located in his own riding given to developers, he has been missing in action. He has remained suspiciously silent on this entire issue, practically washing his hands of it. As a professional and senior member of the Ontario Provincial legislature, surely he should have had some input into the process. His constituents would expect nothing less. Preservation of the Greenbelt primarily refers to the preservation of prime agricultural land, but here are other controversies. No one raises the issue of the existence of many golf courses spread across this area, also taking away significant portions of prime farmland. This subject seems to be taboo, and no wonder, considering a certain elitist attitude surrounding the issue. There are environmental and community associations viscerally against development here such as the building of an airport in the Pickering area, however, they are suspiciously silent on the existence on the myriad of golf courses on the prime farmland. As the saga continues, let us see if the government will be able to strong arm its way to getting shovels in the ground and getting houses built in record time. They have three years to do so before Ontario voters get the final say at the ballot box. It is worth noting, that the entire Pickering City Council voted against developing the land in question, not for altruistic, but for practical reasons. In their estimation, it will take 10 to 25 years to build up the infrastructure that will support major development in the subject area. How well does that bode for the instant housing the Ford government is after? However, as these infrastructure concerns are not in the public consciousness, they may only need to tweak their actions to get away with it. Ford and his new housing minister may not need to cancel plans to develop small sections of the Greenbelt, or even embark on a permanent reversal. They just need to have them reviewed by a trusted, competent and non-partisan third party to ensure that decisions are made in the best interest of the people of the province. Here is hoping for the best!