Showing posts with label doug ford and developers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label doug ford and developers. Show all posts

Sunday, October 8, 2023

The Hits Keep Coming


If the Doug Ford government has any credibility left (a big IF), it has taken yet another hit, thanks to a Star investigation. Uncovered is yet another example of the cronyism that should be anathema in any healthy democracy: the weighting of The Species at Risk Program Advisory Committee with Ford's friends in land development.

The story is primarily about a a particular developer who has been ousted from the committee, after The Star started asking questions.

The Ontario government says it’s removing a developer from an environmental advisory committee a month after appointing him.

The appointment of Sajjad Hussain to the province’s Species at Risk Program Advisory Committee was made on Aug. 31 — three months after he settled in court allegations that he and his business partner misappropriated millions of dollars in a Markham townhouse development.

The accusations were already detailed in court documents posted online at the time of Hussain’s appointment.

Apparently, Mr. Hussain and his partner, according to the  receiver appointed by the courts to oversee repayment to creditors of their company, Sunrise Acquisitions, 'misappropriated' $10 million of repayment funds.

The receiver alleged in a Dec. 2022 court motion that the directors then cooked the books, maintaining an inaccurate ledger to conceal the true nature of transactions that “only served to enrich themselves and non-arm’s lengths parties to the detriment of the company and its creditors.”

That such an unsavoury person should be on the Species at Risk Committee should surprise no one. However, in my mind the more troubling revelation pertains to the composition of the committee, whose purpose, according to a spokesperson for the Simcoe County Greenbelt Coalition, is "to ensure that government policy is protecting biodiversity and ensuring endangered species of the province have advocates".

It is not clear why the Ford government selected Hussain, a developer, for this position. In a 2021 report, Ontario’s auditor general criticized the process for appointments to the species at risk advisory committee for being not transparent. At that time, a majority of members on the committee worked for associations or companies, half of which were registered lobbyists, the report says.

I'm sure that this is business as usual in the corrupted currents of Ford World. It is not, however, normal in my world and the world of the people I know. On days like this, 2026, the year of our next provincial election, seems far away indeed. 

Thursday, September 21, 2023

What Happened In Vegas

 ... didn't stay in Vegas. Consequently, another one bites the dust. Dean Blundell explains all:


The corruption obviously runs deep, and it runs from the top down. Doug the Slug is holding another news conference this afternoon. Given how deep the premier is in to the developers, expect only the usual misdirections, pontifications, evasions, self-serving justifications and NO reversal on the Greenbelt crime.

In other words, ANYTHING BUT THE TRUTH.

Wednesday, September 20, 2023

Sometimes It's Difficult To Know

Sometimes it's difficult to know what is going on in the mind and motivation of Ontario premier Doug Ford. Is he merely a benighted soul who embraces a simple mantra of 'private sector good, public sector bad'? Is he incapable of grasping the perilous climatic times and food challenges we face? Or is he simply so arrogant that he thinks he can ride out the outrage over the Greenbelt theft? Then again, perhaps his associations and friendships with wealthy developers have warped his concept of the "ordinary folks" he publicly proclaims his affiliation with?

All are legitimate questions, ones prompted by his appearance at the 104th Annual Plowing Match, a yearly genuflection in which politicians show their 'common folk' bona fides. Doug Ford riding a tractor makes us all want to vote for him, eh?


This year, however, as a result of his ongoing theft of valuable Greenbelt lands that house so much arable land, his reception was more muted than in times past, the media describing the crowd as merely 'polite.'

Among the waves and hellos from the sidelines to the premier and his caucus as they wended their way along the opening day parade route in a tractor-pulled wagon, there was also some discontent among attendees at the event held in Dufferin County, west of Orangeville.

“If Doug Ford keeps going the way he’s going — for (future generations), where’s their food coming from? Farmers feed us,” said Mona Blain, whose husband’s family has been farming for 100 years in southwestern Ontario.

“Farmers keep our world from going hungry, and when you keep building on our prime farmland, where’s the food coming from?” said Blain, who voted for the Progressive Conservatives in the last election.

“When you start giving away land for billions of dollars and helping out your friends in the process, there’s something wrong,” she added.

While many attending expressed similar concerns, Mr. Ford, ever the cliche-master, offered this chiropractic bromide, avowing

“we’re always going to have the agriculture, the food sector’s back, but most importantly we’re going to have the farmer’s backs.”

Not so, according to opposition politicians.

Ford “is not listening to rural people, he’s not listening to farmers. They are saying very clearly that they want the land returned to the Greenbelt,” [Marit} Stiles said.

Green Leader Mike Schreiner said 60 per cent of the land removed from the Greenbelt is in the Duffins Rouge agricultural preserve east of Toronto, “and that’s some of the best farmland in North America.”

Interim Liberal leader John Fraser said while Ford didn’t mention the Greenbelt in his speech, it was the “elephant in the room.”

While the plowing match is a celebration, he said, “people are angry, and they are angry in rural Ontario and they are angry in urban Ontario.” 

One thing is certain, however. In appearing on land in which horse manure is spread far and wide, Doug Ford shows he is very much in his element.

 

Monday, September 11, 2023

Yet Another Post About Corruption

 

H/t Patrick Corrigan

I'm fairly certain that readers who have stuck with me during my protracted postings on the Doug Ford corruption scandal are growing a bit weary of my apparent monomania. I don't blame you. Even I get tired of writing about a situation that seems to have no resolution, given how intractable Doug and his Slugs are proving on the Greenbelt theft. 

How can any of us move forward, with the stench of corruption still so pungent? The Toronto Star has a few suggestions:

Two investigations have condemned the process to select Greenbelt lands for new housing. The controversy has led to the resignations of a senior political aide, Ryan Amato, and Steve Clark, who had been municipal affairs and housing minister. A government chastened by such findings — and which put any any priority on doing the right thing — would have immediately reversed decisions revealed to be corrupted and politically driven.

And yet, as last week ended, not only was Ford moving ahead with development on 7,400 acres of Greenbelt lands but astonishingly, he suggested that more of this protected band of greenspace could be carved out for new housing following a review.

Let’s recall the many problems with how those lands were picked — lack of consultation, lack of regard to the environmental impacts, overwhelming negative feedback swept aside, gerrymandering of the selection criteria, and most appalling of all, the overriding influence of developers on what lands were chosen.

Despite damning reports from both tha auditor general and the integrity commissioner, the Ford band of robbers plays on, which raises questions that demand answers:n

.... why [are] Ford and his Progressive Conservatives ... so beholden [to] developers, so eager to bend to their wishes, that they’re willing to cast aside good governance and public opinion?

It more than defies explanation. It demands further investigation.

First, we need a police investigation. Ford has said he is “confident” there was no criminality. This from the politician who told the auditor general he was “unaware” of the many other problems on the file. The RCMP — handed the file by the Ontario Provincial Police — has said it will conduct a “full assessment” before determining whether to launch an investigation. Given the public interest, we need the Mounties to investigate and be transparent about what they find.

Secondly, we need a public inquiry. We have been well-served by the investigations to date by Lysyk and Integrity Commissioner J. David Wake. Yet both had to stick to their respective mandates. In Wake’s case, he was restricted to reviewing whether Clark contravened the Member’s Integrity Act. (He found that Clark did violate the act for his failure to oversee the process to select Greenbelt lands for development.)

While the chances of a public inquiry are nil, in my view, we have to hope that the RCMP does not quail at the prospect of criminally investigating a sitting government. Past performance leaves doubts as to their fitness for the task, but it must be done.

It is our only hope to lance the boil that is festering in Ontario

Tuesday, August 22, 2023

Pick A Card. Any Card


As most of us know, magicians use misdirection to accomplish their seemingly amazing feats. In the hands of a skilled practitioner, the process is seamless and awe-inspiring. In the hands of a rank amateur, contemptuous laughter and ridicule are more likely responses. 

Doug Ford is no master of prestidigitation.

That fact becomes increasingly obvious as he tries to finesse his way out of the Greenbelt scandal, a self-induced and egregious display of his corruption that no amount of misdirection can mitigate. For anyone watching or reading the news, his address to the Associations of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) proves both his ineptitude and his venality.

In a blatant bribe to Ontario municipalities, Ford unveiled a $1.2 billion 'fund' to reward those jurisdictions that meet or exceed their new housing goals; indeed, even those who achieve 80% of those targets are eligible for some compensation. The prospect of money- ya gotta love it.

And if that isn't sweet enough for them, he is promising to grant 'strong-mayor' powers to an array of newly-named towns and cities, just so that they need not be bound by any impediments erected by their councils. To me, both measures offer a window into the shrivelled soul of our premier. Assuming he mirrors most people's values, he expects both the bribes and strong-man rule will carry the day, effectively misdirecting us from the Greenbelt scandal that is of his own making and further eroding local democracy

There are only a few problems with that strategy. One, it assumes we will forget the many development fees charged to builders that have been eliminated - the new fund is wholly inadequate compensation for those lost fees. While Ford may choose to ignore it, the fact is that building infrastructure to service new home builds is very expensive, much more than simply hooking up sewer lines, etc. on land that has already been developed and lying vacant throughout Ontario.

Second, those who have the capacity for critical thought will see that this is yet another gift to developers, a taxpayer-funded subsidy that will only enhance their profits. Last time I looked, the likes of De Gasperis and Rice were not going to food banks for their daily bread. But I suppose their needs are much greater than those of the average person, eh?

Third, and this I confess I wasn't aware of, he is raising the spectre of a backlash against immigrants if he doesn't get his way. Martin Regg Cohn writes:

Doug Ford is peddling a risky strategy to save his political skin, and it’s not pretty.

It goes like this:

Unless we gut the Greenbelt, we can’t construct all the homes needed for waves of new immigrants and refugees.

And unless we build all that new housing urgently, resentment will build up rapidly against all those newcomers.

Day after day, as the premier digs himself into a deeper and deeper political hole, he repeatedly raises the alarm: If you block the bulldozing of protected lands, you risk a popular backlash.

...on Monday, in a highly touted speech to municipal leaders from across the province, the premier repeated his gut-the-Greenbelt-or-else warning: “Failing that would threaten to erode Canadians’ unwavering support for immigration.”

That is a new low, even for the morally bankrupt Ford. 

The next provincial election cannot come soon enough.




Wednesday, August 9, 2023

"Banana Republic Corruption"

If you have read anything coming out of Ontario Auditor General's report into the removal of Greenbelt lands for development, you will know that the stench of corruption is deep and pervasive in the Doug Ford government. I watched Ford and Housing Minister Steve Clark's damage-control news conference this afternoon, and it was staggeringly unconvincing. 

No heads will roll, not even that of Clark's chief of staff. All the hapless duo would admit to was that they are committed to "improving the process."

The following analysis sifts through the facts concisely, articulating the truth to be found in this sordid debacle:


As the video host says, this is banana republic corruption, writ large.



Tuesday, April 18, 2023

Sharing Incompetencies

 

I was talking to my good friend Dave, from Winnipeg, the other night. Dave and I have been friends for 40 years. The affinities that bind us include books, movies and, of course, politics. Like me, Dave has a jaundiced, cynical view of those who represent us, seeing them as largely self-serving, selfish to the point of ignoring the real needs of the people.

Dave's tale of the Conservative provincial government currently in power is one of incompetence, conflict of interest and, quite possibly, corruption. It is the same array of scourges we face in Ontario under Doug Ford who, although he promotes a folksy persona, has his heart firmly held in the greedy grasp of business, most particularly the business of his developer friends. Witness the systematic unraveling of the Greenbelt and the circus-like transformation Doug envisions for Ontario Place - a 'world-class' spa.

My conversation with Dave was spent in part in mutual commiseration, but being an Ontarian, I couldn't help but feel that our provincial malfeasance, in all of its corrupt splendour, trumps that of our neighbour to the west.

And I am hardly alone in appreciating the magnitude of  the situation here at home, as a variety of letters-to-the editor attest to.

An urban sprawl crisis

BARRY GRAY THE HAMILTON SPECTATOR FILE PHOTO
A rally drew several hundred to Hamilton City Hall to protest the province’s Greenbelt plan and Bill 23 in 2022. Building more sprawl with large monstrous million-dollar homes is not the answer, writes Marion Bartlett.

Get off your couch, we need a housing revolution, March 27


Yes, we need housing. But at what cost? The Doug Ford government addressed the housing crisis with the “More Homes Built Faster Act,” Bill 23. It aims to develop 50,000 houses on the ecological backbone of Ontario, the Greenbelt.


The bill undermines our rights, communities, and markets and defiles our wildlife legacy. It violates Indigenous Rights, puts federally endangered species in further jeopardy, and puts our drinking water and security at risk. All for a few favoured developers who have espoused this plan to make money at everyone else’s expense.


This is not a solution. It is Ford’s folly. There needs to be another solution. I appeal to Ontarians to view the housing shortage broadly, considering human and environmental effects. Urban sprawl is not just an economic issue but, indeed, an ecological crisis.


Jasmeet Dhaliwal, Hamilton


Ford’s idea of ‘partnership’ is an abusive relationship

Ontario to help cities with shortfall, April 4


I actually laughed when I read Ontario housing minister Steve Clark’s recent comments on the provincial government’s “partnership” with municipalities.


The Doug Ford government is making catastrophic and long-lasting planning decisions that affect cities without consulting them. It’s making revenue stream decisions that affect cities, planning highways that run through cities, paving over significant environmental lands and wildlife habitat, and taking away municipalities’ powers to plan their own cities and towns all without consulting them.


This is no partnership, this is an abusive relationship.


But, we are not to worry, says Clark. If Bill 23 is creating financial problems for our cities, by starving them of development charges that used to be paid by developers, the provincial government will “not hang them out to dry.”


I guess that means that if the province deems our cities sufficiently desperate for the funds required to serve the needs of residents, the province will bail them out. With what? Our tax dollars of course!


Why should the developers, who are making millions thanks to Ford, have to pay for the infrastructure to support their new developments when the taxpayers can do it ?


Make no mistake folks, we are the ones being “hung out to dry.”


Marilyn Ginsburg, Markham


Ford and photo ops

It’s galling to see Doug Ford on another self congratulating photo op this time with medical students. I wonder if he talked about how the health care system in Ontario is imploding as we breathe and he has the money and means to slow/stop this to an extent but refuses to. It would spoil his personal agenda and he might have to consider he was wrong on many decisions and as we have seen before, that does not bode well with him. Once graduated, why would any health care professional want to stay here when you see what you have to deal with in reality realizing you could have it better just about anywhere.

Robert Panchyson, Burlington

There is one major difference between Manitoba and Ontario, however, that is sobering. The former must face the electorate in the fall, while we in Ontario must continue to groan under the yoke of incompetence, greed and corruption until 2026. 

Some days, that seems like a very, very long way off.


Monday, April 3, 2023

A Small Experiment


I have a busy day ahead, so I thought I would try a little experiment with A.I., having recently been given access to the Bing Chat Bot. I shall return to that in a moment.

Yesterday, Keith Leslie posted this Tweet:

Why does

need a five-storey, underground parking garage, paid for by taxpayers, when its massive spa at Ontario Place will be on the new subway line? This needs to be an issue in the mayoral campaign. #onpoli #TOpoli

It is clear that Toronto city planners are not happy:

In a 13-page status report regarding the province’s planned overhaul of the city’s waterfront attraction, officials detailed their thoughts on the proposed 65,000-square metre private entertainment, water recreation and wellness centre.

The biggest issue appears to be with the facility’s main entrance and building, a 22,000 square-metre structure with a maximum height of 26 metres that will connect to the west island.

“The proposed entry building and bridge elements act as barriers, obscuring heritage views to Ontario Place, the pods and Cinesphere and integrated landscape as well as sight lines to water; these detract from the public sense of arrival to the west island,” the report read.

“The height, massing and scale of the main building overwhelms the public realm, heritage features and overall size of the west island landform.”

City planners say the current location of the building on the mainland “prioritizes private uses” and acts as a barrier to non-paying members of the public who wish to access the waterfront.

Beyond that, the report also took issue with a five-level underground parking garage.

The structure “does not prioritize transit and active transportation” and goes against the province’s own policies on reducing car use as laid out in its Provincial Policy Statement.

“The proposed five level subsurface parking structure, surface parking and resultant 2,700 space parking supply does not meet these policy objectives,” the report said.

Ontario submitted its development application for the new Ontario Place in November of 2022 and said at the time that it would feature 12 acres of accessible public space as well as a “family-friendly” attraction.

Much of the infrastructure for this private development, including the underground parking, will be funded by the taxpayer, something that is becoming SOP for the Ford government.   

That got me thinking about two things: How would A.I depict this development, and doesn't the City of Toronto have a say in the redevelopment of Ontario Place,? I asked for a balanced report, and this is what I got:

Yes, the City of Toronto has some influence over the plans to redevelop Ontario Place. Premier Doug Ford insists that the city of Toronto will have a major say in the controversial redevelopment of Ontario Place as decisions on the provincial waterfront park are coming down to the wire1.

According to a report by Toronto city planners, they have found some issues with the proposed redevelopment of Ontario Place and say one part of the design is so big it “overwhelms the public realm”2The city staff has issued a critical report of Ontario Place redesign proposal3.

The City will work with the Province in a cooperative and coordinated manner on the next phases of the Ontario Place redevelopment to optimize the potential of the Ontario Place and Exhibition Place sites and to achieve outcomes that are consistent with the City’s legacy of careful waterfront planning4.

I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any other questions. Learn more:

1. thestar.com2. toronto.ctvnews.ca3. cbc.ca4. toronto.ca