Ontario’s Premier Doug Ford sits in chamber after Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy delivered the fiscal outlook at Queen's Park, in Toronto, on Nov. 14.Chris Young/The Canadian Press
Let’s leave aside for the moment whether Doug Ford is right to want to take land out of Southern Ontario’s Greenbelt to make way for more housing. Opponents say that chipping away at the two-million-acre buffer will threaten the environment and hand a gift to his developer buddies. Proponents say that the government is taking back only a sliver of the protected land, that it is adding more land elsewhere to compensate, and that the province desperately needs more housing to accommodate the booming population of the Greater Toronto and Hamilton region.
Let’s look at this as a matter of democratic principle instead. Judged that way, Mr. Ford is clearly, flagrantly offside.
Before he first became premier in 2018, he said in the strongest imaginable terms that he would not remove any land from the Greenbelt. “There have been a lot of voices saying that they don’t want to touch the Greenbelt,” Mr. Ford said then. “I govern through the people, I don’t govern through government. The people have spoken – we won’t touch the Greenbelt.”
This was not some off-the-cuff remark. Mr. Ford was under attack at the time because his Liberal rivals had released a video that showed him saying he would open up “a big chunk” of the Greenbelt for development. By reversing himself and saying he would leave it alone after all, he was moving to take the issue off the table and a target off his back. The pledge may well have calmed the fears of some voters and influenced the outcome of the election, which ended with a healthy majority for Mr. Ford’s Progressive Conservatives.
Ever since, he and his ministers have batted away the concerns of suspicious rivals and environmental groups about their intentions regarding the Greenbelt. When the government introduced legislation in 2018 to make it easier for municipalities to expedite approvals for offices and factories, Steve Clark, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, insisted that “we remain steadfast in our commitment to protect the Greenbelt for future generations.”
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, Stoufville
Buyer: 2743903 Ontario Inc.
Price: $12.5M
Date sold: April 20, 2020
4
12045 McCowan Rd, Stoufville
Buyer: TORCA I Inc.
Price: $25.0M
Date sold: Sept. 20, 2021
5
12045 McCowan Rd, Stoufville
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, Stoufville
3
Buyer: 2743903 Ontario Inc.
Price: $12.5M
Date sold: April 20, 2020
12045 McCowan Rd, Stoufville
4
Buyer: TORCA I Inc.
Price: $25.0M
Date sold: Sept. 20, 2021
12045 McCowan Rd, Stoufville
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, Stoufville
April 20, 2020
$12.5M
2743903 Ontario Inc.
3
12045 McCowan Road, Stoufville
Sept. 20, 2021
$25.0M
TORCA I Inc.
4
12045 McCowan Road, Stoufville
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
In 2020, under questioning in the legislature, Mr. Clark said he had made it clear to every community “that if you’re going to give us a request to develop property within the Greenbelt, we have one short answer: No.” Only a year ago, Mr. Ford said he had promised “we weren’t going to touch the Greenbelt for developers” and “we’ve kept that promise.”
The government cannot possibly argue, as governments often do, that altered circumstances justify its reversal. The need for housing was urgent when Mr. Ford made his I-won’t-touch-it vow and it is urgent now. Nothing has changed. It was a big issue in this year’s provincial election campaign, in which he promised to get lots of new housing built but said nothing about opening up the Greenbelt.
The Premier is simply turning his back on the unequivocal promise he made to Ontario’s voters. That would be wrong no matter who made the promise, but it is especially reprehensible coming from Mr. Ford. He portrays himself as a straight shooter, a politician who always does what he said he would do. One of his favourite slogans is: Promises made, promises kept. “We are going to make sure we keep every single promise,” he said after winning re-election this year.
Except this one, it seems.
The man who claims to lead a government “for the people” seems to have very little respect for them. The broken Greenbelt promise is just the latest evidence of Mr. Ford’s tendency to run roughshod over democratic norms and rights.
He has used or threatened to use the notwithstanding clause of the Constitution no less than three times, compromising the Charter rights of Ontarians. Just recently, he gave the mayors of Toronto and Ottawa the power to win certain votes with only a third of councillors on their side (though Ottawa’s mayor says he will never use the power). He cut the size of Toronto council almost in half in the middle of a municipal election campaign, with no notice to voters.
All of these steps erode the foundations of our democracy. But nothing puts it so much at risk as politicians who make solemn promises at election time only to pull them back once they hold power. Politics and politicians are in bad odour with voters for just this reason. Cynicism and disengagement are rising. Voter turnout is hitting historic lows.
Ontario needs more housing, but far more than that it needs a healthy democracy. Mr. Ford should hang his head.