The Doug Ford Paying His Debt To Developers Act

One will no doubt remember this infamous video from over four years ago, prior to Doug Ford's Progressive Conservative's first victory in Ontario:

Although he later disavowed his comments, promising to protect the Greenbelt from development, he has, of course, gone back on his 'word', the crisis in affordable housing his official justification. 

A joint investigation by the Toronto Star and The Narwhal has uncovered some interesting, perhaps damning, evidence of collusion between the premier and his developer supporters.

Developers owning Greenbelt land now set to be developed appear to have given significant sums to Ford’s Progressive Conservative party, donation records show. Lobbying records reveal connections between the party and five of the landowners who will benefit most from the proposed changes.

The timing is raising questions about whether the landowners knew the lands would soon become developable and profitable — or if they simply took a gamble and won.

 The Star/Narwhal analysis of property records and corporate documents shows at least six developers bought parcels of land since 2018 that include portions of Greenbelt now set to be removed from the protected area.

While there is undoubtedly always a gambling element in the purchase of properties, evidence is mounting suggesting the game was rigged. 

Here’s who owns the land Doug Ford wants to remove from the Greenbelt

Each dot on the map represents property within the areas slated to be opened up to housing development. Hovering over/tapping the dots will reveal who owns the land, when they purchased it and for how much.

In the above, although it is perhaps difficult to discern in the reproduction, the red dots represent properties bought after Ford's election in 2018, and the orange properties purchased before June 2018. If you go to The Narwahl, you can hover over the map to see who owns what. 

The Star/Narwhal analysis of property records and corporate documents shows at least six developers bought parcels of land since 2018 that include portions of Greenbelt now set to be removed from the protected area.

 TACC Developments, headed by prominent developer Silvio De Gasperis, paid $50 million in May 2021 for 100 acres of farmland north of Canada’s Wonderland in Vaughan. Large portions of the property are in the Greenbelt and were undevelopable at the time the land was purchased. If Ford’s proposal goes through, a lucrative chunk alongside Pine Valley Rd. will be cleared for houses.   

An executive assistant at the company said De Gasperis was out of the country for a family wedding and unable to respond to questions for this story. 

Collectively, the developers who purchased land within the Greenbelt since Ford was elected spent more than $278 million, according to land registry documents. 

With Ford’s decision to open them for development, the land values could skyrocket. The government, which is mandated to consult the public about the changes for 30 days, could finalize them as soon as early December.

“Wealthy developers stand to gain huge amounts of money when farmland is rezoned for development,” said Jessica Bell, the NDP housing critic. “They buy the land cheap, and they can sell it or develop it for incredible profit.”

The Narwhal/Star reached out to every developer named in this story. Most did not respond.

The cone of silence enveloping the developers is par for the course, especially if that course is a rigged playing field, as many suspect. 

It should be clear to those who see more than dollar signs when they open their eyes that developing parts of the Greenbelt, indeed, any action that promotes sprawl, flies in the face of the world's climate crisis. Sprawl means not only the elimination of valuable agricultural and greenspace; it also means more people will be emitting more greenhouse gases as they commute further and further to work, an untenable scenario in our fraught times.

So what can be done when the power of the province is making its heavy hand felt? In addition to widespread protest, one possibility is what some are contemplating in Hamilton, which just elected a largely new city council. Simply deny the budgeting funds needed to pay for the costly infrastructure that new, far-flung development entails. It is difficult to see how the Ford cabal could counteract such a measure, unless the premier invoked another notwithstanding clause threat to overturn local democracy.

But if Ford were willing to go that route, at least his avarice and his subservience to his business masters would be plain for all to see.