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.

 

The CORE Of The Problem

 

As I continue to reflect upon the sad outcome of the recent Ontario provincial election, I find that the bulk of my disdain, my odium, my repugnance, is aimed not at the minority of voters who gave Doug Ford's Progressive Conservatives another majority. Rather, it is toward the majority who, through inertia, ignorance or overly delicate sensibilities (I didn't like any of the candidates!) elected to forgo one of their key responsibilities of citizenship - getting out to the polls.

And the true results of that dereliction of duty are just starting to emerge. Noor Javed writes:

It was supposed to be the most significant investment in Port Hope’s history.

But a land deal — two years in the making — between the municipality and the Ontario Power Generation to acquire 540 hectares of unused Crown land along Lake Ontario was abruptly terminated by the province, which said the land would instead be assessed by its newest program: the Centre of Realty Excellence (CORE).

The province’s last-minute intervention stunned local politicians and residents who said the local MPP, who is also Doug Ford’s environment minister, supported the $18.6-million deal, which would have seen underutilized lands used for employment, housing and the preservation of environmentally sensitive lands.

Given that the erstwhile deal included housing development, but also the preservation of environmentally sensitive lands, it is perhaps instructive to look at what the government's CORE website has to say: distilled to its essence, it is all about facilitating rapid development of housing through the reduction of red tape, along with stern penalties for municipalities and their taxpayers that don't get with the program:

Applicants who do not receive approval of their site plan application within the legislated timeframe would have their application fees refunded through a phased approach. Fees would be refunded at the following percentages based on the amount of time that has passed since the municipality received the complete application and fee, starting January 1, 2023:

• 50% of the fee within 60 days
• 25% of the fee within 90 days (for a total refund of 75%)
• 25% of the fee within 120 days (for a total refund of 100%)

Considering Doug Ford's well-known ties with developers, the defunct deal with Port Hope should alarm those who understand how important and increasingly urgent it is to preserve environmentally sensitive lands. Says Jennifer Jackman, who is part of a group that represents local environmental groups Willow Beach Field Naturalists and the Northumberland Land Trust:

“This area is unique naturally, it’s not one type of ecosystem … it’s a forested area with ravines running through it that connects to a wetlands. That functioning ecosystem is unusual, particularly south of the 401”.

Jackman said it’s too early to say if the environment will play a role in CORE.

“We haven’t found much about what CORE will be like — what its priorities will be. It doesn’t mention conservation or ecology as one of its priorities, it’s more about getting value for their lands. So we are a little nervous about this,” she said. 

Ms. Jackman is right to be nervous. And if things run to their predictable outcome, she will have not only the Doug Ford government to blame, but the millions of  Ontarians who could not muster the intestinal fortitude to stop a second Progressive Conservative majority by exercising their franchise.

 

 

A Sign Of The Times

People in Ontario will recognize this as one of Doug Ford's election bribes and an acknowledgement of his good friends, the developers.

H/t Theo Moudakis

Timely And Relevant

 A nice follow-up to yesterday's post:

H/t Theo Moudakis

As well, Bob Coupland of Oakville expresses some timely sentiments:

Ford government’s planning entrenches sprawl at expense of environment

I just heard the term “The Big Sprawl,” and it alarmed me to hear that between now and July 1, 2022, the Doug Ford government is forcing every Greater Golden Horseshoe municipality to rush through planning decisions to lock in 30 more years of outdated and environmentally damaging residential, commercial and industrial sprawl.

It seems to me that this goes hand in hand with their attitude towards the building of Highway 413, the appointment of Norm Sterling as head of the Greenbelt Council, and the rampant use of MZOs (Ministerial Zoning Orders), decisions that are designed to make developers and land speculators even wealthier.

Policies of this sort are heavy-handed and dictatorial, blatantly harmful, unnecessary, and not what the people of Ontario want.

It’s time to stop urban boundary expansions, and firmly and forever protect farmland and natural areas.

It appears that Doug Ford's attempt to use the Covid crisis as an opportunity for misdirection while he enriches his developer cronies is not wholly successful, eh?