All three of Ontario’s opposition leaders have joined together to ask the province’s auditor-general to investigate the Progressive Conservative government’s move to carve 3,000 hectares out of the protected Greenbelt for housing developers.
Incoming Opposition NDP leader Marit Stiles had previously asked Auditor-General Bonnie Lysyk probe the Greenbelt changes, which the government announced in November. The government says the move will allow the construction of up to 50,000 homes and would be balanced by the addition of 3,800 new hectares elsewhere to the Greenbelt.
On Thursday, the NDP released a letter calling for Ms. Lysyk to launch a “value for money” audit and assess the “financial and environmental impacts” of the Greenbelt removals. Interim Ontario Liberal Leader John Fraser and Ontario Green Leader Mike Schreiner also signed the plea.
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Environmental activists including Democracy Watch and Environmental Defence, as well as the Ontario Liberals, have urged the Ontario Provincial Police to look into whether developers who stood to benefit from the changes were tipped off in advance. The force has said it was gathering information in order to decide whether to launch an investigation.
The Globe and Mail and other news media outlets have reported that some of the land taken out of the Greenbelt changed hands as recently as September, 2022. Several of the developers that stand to benefit from the changes are large PC donors.
Mr. Schreiner and Ms. Stiles have also asked the Ontario Legislature’s Integrity Commissioner to probe whether rules banning MPPs from sharing inside information were broken.
Both Mr. Ford and Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Steve Clark have said they did not tip developers off about the decision. But when first confronted with questions along these lines in November, Mr. Clark wouldn’t directly answer repeated queries from reporters and opposition MPPs – until a day later, when he told the Legislature he did not tip developers off.
Mr. Ford told reporters on Thursday that the Greenbelt lands are needed to build housing, taking questions at an appearance in Hannon, Ont., on the outskirts of Hamilton.
“I think we are very transparent. And at the end of the day, we need more homes,” Mr. Ford said, citing estimates that Ontario can expect to receive as many as 300,000 newcomers a year.
The letter released on Thursday argues that the Greenbelt changes deliver a windfall to landowners who purchased protected land at deflated prices. And it points in particular to the government’s repeal of the Duffins Rouge Agricultural Preserve Act, which opened up about 1,820 hectares of previously protected land northeast of Toronto for development, and accounts for the majority of the Greenbelt lands being removed.
These lands, the letter says, were originally expropriated by the Ontario government decades ago, but were returned to landowners at low prices on the condition that they came with easements protecting them from development in perpetuity. The lands were later incorporated into the protected Greenbelt, when it was created in 2005. Lifting those protections now, the letter says, amounts to a giveaway.
“These easements represented a multibillion-dollar public investment in Ontario’s natural and agricultural systems by the people of Ontario, who gave up enormous profits when the Ontario government sold these lands at discounted prices on the condition that they forever remain farmland,” the letter reads. “The removal of these easements means these speculative profits will now flow to private landowners, with no compensation to the public.”
The letter calls for a “a value-for-money audit investigating how much public wealth has been transferred to property owners and whether these land transactions are in the public interest.”
The letter also notes that Parks Canada, a federal agency, has raised concerns that removing the Duffins Rouge lands from protection would cause “irreversible harm” to wildlife and ecosystems in the adjacent Rouge National Urban Park. And it points to concerns raised by hundreds of people in public consultations last year.
The leaders say the decision has a “strong likelihood of negative impacts on the environment” and ask the auditor-general’s office to “investigate the environmental impact of the removal of these Greenbelt lands on agricultural and natural systems.”
In November, the NDP issued a statement estimating that the major landowners in the Duffins Rouge Agricultural Preserve lands, companies controlled by long-time prominent developers Silvio, Michael and Carlo De Gasperis, would see their holdings spike in value after the decision, resulting in a potential windfall of at least $637-million.
Greenbelt carve-outs
A partial list of lands subject to Greenbelt protections sold since the Progressive Conservatives took office in 2018
ONTARIO
Greenbelt
Detail
U.S.
0
15
KM
1
DURHAM
3
4
5
YORK
9
2
6
7
8
TORONTO
CANADA
U.S.
Lake Ontario
Legend
Greenbelt
Areas of
settlement
outside the
Greenbelt
10
NIAGARA
1
King Township – south of Miller’s Sideroad,
east of Dufferin St and west of Bathurst St
Buyer: Green Lane Bathurst GP Inc.
Price: $80.0M
Date sold: Sept. 20, 2022
2
11011 Pine Valley Dr, Vaughan
Buyer: TACC Developments (Block 41) Inc.
Price: $50.0M
Date sold: May 20, 2021
3
11861 McCowan Rd, Stouffville
Buyer: 2743903 Ontario Inc.
Price: $12.5M
Date sold: April 20, 2020
4
12045 McCowan Rd, Stouffville
Buyer: TORCA I Inc.
Price: $25.0M
Date sold: Sept. 20, 2021
5
12045 McCowan Rd, Stouffville
Buyer: TORCA II Inc.
Price: $25.0M
Date sold: Sept. 20, 2021
6
10378 Highway 48, Markham
Buyer: 2714791 Ontario Ltd.
Price: $60.0M
Date sold: Dec. 20, 2021
7
10235 Highway 48, Markham
Buyer: 2724265 Ontario Ltd.
Price: $23.5M
Date sold: Oct. 20, 2021
8
10541 Highway 48, Markham
Buyer: 2724270 Ontario Ltd.
Price: $2
Date sold: March 20, 2021
9
775 Kingston Rd E, Ajax
Buyer: 2615898 Ontario Inc.
Price: $15.8M
Date sold: June 20, 2018
10
502 Winston Rd, Grimsby
Buyer: 502 Winston Road Inc.
Price: $10.0M
Date sold: May 20, 2019
Note: Numbers 4 and 5 are two properties
with the same address.
john sopinski and murat yükselir /
the globe and mail, Source:
GOVERNMENT OF ONTARIO
Greenbelt carve-outs
A partial list of lands subject to Greenbelt protections sold since the Progressive Conservatives took office in 2018
ONTARIO
Greenbelt
Detail
U.S.
0
15
KM
1
DURHAM
3
4
5
YORK
9
2
6
7
8
TORONTO
CANADA
U.S.
Lake Ontario
Legend
Greenbelt
Areas of
settlement
outside the
Greenbelt
10
NIAGARA
King Township – south of Miller’s Sideroad,
east of Dufferin St and west of Bathurst St
1
Buyer: Green Lane Bathurst GP Inc.
Price: $80.0M
Date sold: Sept. 20, 2022
11011 Pine Valley Dr, Vaughan
2
Buyer: TACC Developments (Block 41) Inc.
Price: $50.0M
Date sold: May 20, 2021
11861 McCowan Rd, Stouffville
3
Buyer: 2743903 Ontario Inc.
Price: $12.5M
Date sold: April 20, 2020
12045 McCowan Rd, Stouffville
4
Buyer: TORCA I Inc.
Price: $25.0M
Date sold: Sept. 20, 2021
12045 McCowan Rd, Stouffville
5
Buyer: TORCA II Inc.
Price: $25.0M
Date sold: Sept. 20, 2021
10378 Highway 48, Markham
6
Buyer: 2714791 Ontario Ltd.
Price: $60.0M
Date sold: Dec. 20, 2021
10235 Highway 48, Markham
7
Buyer: 2724265 Ontario Ltd.
Price: $23.5M
Date sold: Oct. 20, 2021
10541 Highway 48, Markham
8
Buyer: 2724270 Ontario Ltd.
Price: $2
Date sold: March 20, 2021
775 Kingston Rd E, Ajax
9
Buyer: 2615898 Ontario Inc.
Price: $15.8M
Date sold: June 20, 2018
502 Winston Rd, Grimsby
10
Buyer: 502 Winston Road Inc.
Price: $10.0M
Date sold: May 20, 2019
Note: Numbers 4 and 5 are two properties
with the same address.
john sopinski and murat yükselir /
the globe and mail, Source: GOVERNMENT OF ONTARIO
Greenbelt carve-outs
A partial list of lands subject to Greenbelt protections sold since the Progressive Conservatives took office in 2018
Legend
0
15
KM
Greenbelt
1
DURHAM
Areas of settlement
outside the Greenbelt
3
4
5
YORK
9
2
6
7
8
PEEL
TORONTO
CANADA
U.S.
HALTON
Lake Ontario
ONTARIO
HAMILTON
Detail
Greenbelt
U.S.
10
NIAGARA
LOCATION
DATE SOLD
SALE PRICE
BUYER
King Township – south of Miller’s
Sideroad, east of Dufferin St and
west of Bathurst St
Sept. 20, 2022
$80.0M
Green Lane Bathurst GP Inc.
1
11011 Pine Valley Drive, Vaughan
May 20, 2021
$50.0M
TACC Developments
(Block 41) Inc.
2
11861 McCowan Road, Stouffville
April 20, 2020
$12.5M
2743903 Ontario Inc.
3
12045 McCowan Road, Stouffville
Sept. 20, 2021
$25.0M
TORCA I Inc.
4
12045 McCowan Road, Stouffville
Sept. 20, 2021
$25.0M
TORCA II Inc.
5
10378 Highway 48, Markham
Dec. 20, 2021
$60.0M
2714791 Ontario Ltd.
6
10235 Highway 48, Markham
Oct. 20, 2021
$23.5M
2724265 Ontario Ltd.
7
10541 Highway 48, Markham
March 20, 2021
$2
2724270 Ontario Ltd.
8
775 Kingston Road E, Ajax
June 20, 2018
$15.8M
2615898 Ontario Inc.
9
502 Winston Road, Grimsby
May 20, 2019
$10.0M
502 Winston Road Inc.
10
Note: Numbers 4 and 5 are two properties with the same address.
john sopinski and murat yükselir/the globe and mail, Source: GOVERNMENT OF ONTARIO