People Will Remember

 

H/t Moudakis

A cynic and pessimist by nature, I rarely attribute any lasting, long-term results arising from protests. In the case of the Greenbelt Corruption and Destruction, however, I have to admit to being guardedly optimistic.

People are not quickly forgetting this desecration of environmental stewardship, democracy, and ethical, principled government.

‘Dougtator?’

I don’t understand why anyone is surprised by the Ontario Conservative government. It was long evident that Premier Doug Ford has no use for democracy, consultation or voters once they have cast their ballot. He stuffed his cabinet with toadies and sycophants, and now has a free hand to show his true colours. “The people” are viewed as a cost centre and a liability — not owners and stakeholders in this province. “The people” are expected to let their betters, (millionaire developers) take care of business. “The people” don’t need green space — they just need to shut up and go to work. Like any employee they should do as told and not express an opinion in the “dougtators” presence. Oh and no unions need apply!

Wayne Stansfield, Hamilton

The Greenbelt was a controversial topic when it was first introduced, mainly because farmers were never compensated for the loss in their land value, and it has become a matter of considerably more controversy today, as Bob Hepburn has pointed out so well his article, “Keeping developers from cashing in on the Greenbelt” (Dec. 2). It is hard to understand why developers/speculators would continue to buy up property in the Greenbelt when it was not possible for development to occur there. What or who did they know? It is also hard to understand how the entire Conservative government could ignore the input from so many experts, including city planners and experienced environmentalists.. It is time for all of us to become more involved. Try HandsofftheGreenbelt.ca.

Jim Warren, Hamilton. 

Hearteningly, young people are also becoming active in opposing this mess that they will eventually inherit. Western University graduate student Brendon Samuels writes:

On a blustery Friday afternoon in December, a group of students, faculty, staff, elected officials and community members gathered at Western University for a student-led demonstration about Bill 23, the “More Homes Built Faster Act.”

... students recognize that Bill 23 has little to do with building affordable housing, and instead focuses on removing essential processes for land use planning. Bill 23 limits the role of conservation authorities, municipal governments, and the public in reviewing and approving new developments that may impact habitat, biodiversity, farmland and climate change mitigation and adaptation.

While not all of the proposals by SOGS (Society of Graduate Students at Western) are likely to bear fruit, such as their call for a general strike to protest the bill, three of their demands seem eminently achievable. 

... students called on Doug Ford’s government to disclose its secret mandate letters immediately, per its legal obligation. The Auditor General of Ontario’s 2022 value-for-money report warns that the province is failing to provide transparency that it owes to its constituents. How much taxpayer money has been spent by this government fighting legal battles to withhold the mandate letters?

... students call on the Ontario government to answer questions directly and provide evidence-based justification for its decisions and policies related to the housing and climate crises. It is unacceptable that we continue to tolerate blatant lies, deflections and marketing gimmicks from the majority government in response to questions from the opposition in the Legislature.

 Finally, students urge everyone to continue sharing what you are concerned about in Bill 23 and other changes imposed by this government. We must continue to apply pressure and prepare for our next opportunity to vote for real leadership in 3.5 years. We need more effective public education and organizing, with messages designed to reach disillusioned voters and young people especially. Readers, please consider this an open call for spicy Ontario memes.

The environment's well-being, made especially urgent by our climate crisis, should be a matter of real concern to everyone. The fact that people are writing letters and contacting their representatives is all to the good. That young people, with a great deal of present and future skin in the game, are taking up the cause suggests this is a vital issue that, contrary to government bluster and lies, will not go away anytime soon.

 

 

The Fox In The Henhouse

My apologies for titling this post with a cliché, but it seems particularly apt given who is really behind the plan to degrade our greenspace and wetlands, also known as The Greenbelt Grab. 

No surprise: it is the developers and homebuilders.

In a rather telling article, David Wilkes ( President and CEO of the Building Industry and Land Development Association) lays bare, perhaps inadvertently, the influence he and his ilk have over the Ford government's decision-making process.

He begins by trying to provoke a sense of outrage in readers, especially the ones hoping to buy a new home. 

When a family buys a new home in the GTA, as much as a quarter of the price consists of fees, taxes and charges imposed by the three levels of government.

More than half of that amount is levied by the municipality in the form of charges intended to pay for growth-related infrastructure, additional local services and new parks.

What does that mean in dollars and cents?

Across the GTA, municipalities collect $116,000 per new housing unit, on average, in growth funding charges. These include development charges, community benefits charges and parkland cash-in-lieu. The rates for the most significant of these charges — development charges — are based on background studies that municipalities are required to produce every few years.

His dishonesty begins by implying that any savings made through his plan, which I will get to in a moment, will be passed on to the homebuyer. Apparently, the market forces we have been taught to believe in will be magically suspended, so great is the builders' desire to bring affordable housing to all.

His plan, which is also an admission of the great sway builders and developers have upon Doug Ford, is this:

Ensuring that residents get the infrastructure and services they need is important. Unfortunately, for more than a decade, GTA municipalities have been collecting far more in growth funding charges than they have been spending, accumulating an estimated $6 billion in reserves. This estimate is based on the financial information returns that municipalities file each year with the provincial Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

When challenged about the intended use of these large reserves, municipalities state that the funds are allocated. However, in most cases it is not clear whether the funds have been allocated for the new infrastructure and services for which they were ostensibly collected. Transparency and accountability are missing here. (Emphasis mine.)

The last sentence is especially rich, given that, in concert with the government, developers have operated in an atmosphere that can only be politely described as opaque. But the extent of their  influence is apparent in the following:

Given the accumulation of large reserves of growth funding charges by municipalities and the housing affordability crisis we are facing in the GTA, it makes sense that our industry — and the public — wants transparency and accountability around how these charges are collected and spent.

This is why the Ontario Home Builders’ Association (OHBA) last month called on the province to audit major municipalities’ collection and use of growth funding charges. (Emphasis mine.)

Like the obedient soldiers they are, the Ford government intends to do precisely that, at least in cities like Toronto and Mississauga. Recently, the Housing Minister, Steven Clark, promised to make Toronto whole if reduced or eliminated development fees compromise their finances.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford said Thursday that he does not believe that the loss of development charges entailed in a housing bill his government passed this week will hurt municipalities and said they can likely make up some of the shortfall by cutting waste.

While Clark promised to make the city whole, he also said Wednesday that the province would be launching a third-party audit of municipal reserve funds.

Ford evinced little but contempt for other municipalities objecting to the loss of development fees, including Mississauga's Mayor Crombie.

Ford said Mississauga has increased its fees on new homebuyers by nearly 30 per cent in the last two years and that makes it difficult for people to buy a home. He also accused Mississauga of not fully spending the development charge revenues it gets now, saying the city is sitting on millions of dollars in development charge reserves.

“I see that Mayor Crombie’s out there handing out flyers and doing this – all I say is get on board, stop being disingenuous, you know, with the people of Mississauga,” Ford said. “It’s just absolutely wrong.”

Crombie said development charges do go into reserves, but municipalities are not simply sitting on the money, rather they are treated like savings going toward future long-term projects, akin to a homeowner saving up for a new roof.

“We do not collect money we do not need, and we do not have unlimited chequing accounts,” Crombie wrote.

“In fact, the funds we collect are often not enough to support new growth – we are often short and have to use tax dollars to cover the gaps.”

The Ford government is wholly incapable of any kind of nuanced thinking; that is the limitation resulting from both inveterate, extreme Conservatives and Doug Ford's cognitive and educational shortcomings. 

And all Ontarians will bear the high cost of those failings.

 

 

 

The Stench That Cannot Be Ignored

 

H/t Moudakis

A Star letter-writer observes that Doug Ford must think Ontarians are stupid. In that I hope he is wrong, At least, as seen in the report that follows this letter, his political opposition is not letting his depredations of the Greenbelt go unchallenged.

Changes to the way Ontarians live are coming thick and fast from Premier Doug Ford.

From rearranging regional and city governments to take away oversight and responsible decision-making, to cutting health care costs at a time of unprecedented demand, to destroying the Greenbelt he seems to have gone mad with power.

Which begs the question: Is there no way to check this man? Has Ontario become an autocracy complete with its own dictator?

Our premier must think Ontarians are stupid as he works to restrict health care wages, safety protocols and access to medicine to try to drive our health care system to the breaking point so he can tout privatization as the only solution. Of course, he will never admit privatization — with a built-in profit factor — will cost more. So he lies about his motivations and goals to make his strategy more acceptable.

Turning to the Greenbelt, prior to the election he was caught discussing plans to open it to development. He then publicly stated he would never do that. Once he was re-elected, he did just that.

It is said people get the government they deserve.

But does Ontario really deserve Doug Ford?

J. Richard Wright, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont.

Meanwhile, as Richard Benzie reports, Municipal Affairs Minister Richard Clark brazenly tries to deflect attention from the apparent corruption in his government's relationship with well-heeled developers, a corruption the Opposition demand be investigated.

Asked by reporters Monday if “cronyism” was at play, Clark said, “No, it’s a bold action by the government to ensure that we meet our housing target at the end of the day.”

The Tories are facing criticism after revelations party donors stand to benefit from the opening up of 7,400 acres of protected Greenbelt land to housing construction.

 But an investigation by the Toronto Star and the Narwhal found that of the 15 areas where development will soon be allowed, eight included properties purchased since Premier Doug Ford’s election in 2018.

NDP MPP Marit Stiles (Davenport) has asked the auditor general to probe the land deals. She said the Tories are making changes to “benefit powerful landowners” with ties to the governing party.

“Given how suspicious this looks, the least the government can do is be transparent about what has been happening behind closed doors,” said Stiles. “How did the government choose which lands were going to be removed from the Greenbelt?”

Despite his blithe dismissal of accusations of cronyism (I prefer another word: corruption), it is clear something is rotten in the state of Ontario, a fact not missed by Green Party leader Mike Schreiner, who said the Tories are

“absolutely rewarding literally a handful of wealthy land speculators who are going to turn a million into billions.

“This is a huge land play for a handful of people to cash in and the people of Ontario are going to pay the price for it,” said Schreiner, warning of other consequences for agriculture and the food supply.

“People don’t realize that once you start saying protected land can be developed, you can engage in speculation on protected land,” he said.

“So it’s going to make that land unaffordable for farming because farmers are never going to be able to purchase land that is being valued for (potential) development.”

As Rob Ferguson writes, Schreiner has filed a complaint

with the provincial integrity commissioner seeking an investigation into the property deals.

“Over half the parcels of land being opened for development in the Greenbelt were purchased after Premier Ford was elected and some of those parcels of land were purchased as recently as September of this year,” Schreiner said.

“This doesn’t pass the smell test … we need to clear the air.”

Schreiner is right. Ignoring a stench this fetid does no one other than the Ford government and its developer supporters any good.

Ontarians, public morality and justice demand much, much more.

 

 

On Being Slyly Subversive

When a democratically elected government becomes dishonest and dictatorial, any legal action to hold it to account is welcome. Ontario, groaning under the yoke of the Ford government, may find this young lady's suggestion useful:

You want stop Doug Ford from “getting it done” and privatizing our healthcare and education and destroying Greenbelts. This young lady has a solution!!! #onpoli #dougford #healthcare #educatorsjobs #Greenbelt

@ontarionurses

#onted #cupe

@CUPEOntario

H/t 

Bev

@Garnet_2203

Click here for the PC Party Site.

UPDATED: The Smell Of Urban Doom

It is expected that the Ontario government will today pass Bill 23, a.k.a. The Doug Ford Gift To Developers Act. The consequences of that legislation will be far-reaching, so much so that it warrants a united opposition from all who live in cities and enjoy the amenities that urban living offers.

Mississauga City Councillor Carolyn Parrish stops short of calling it panic. But in her 38-year political career, she says she has never seen the kind of stunned apprehension that Ontario’s More Homes Built Faster Act has evoked among municipal officials.

Known as Bill 23, the sweeping act aimed at building 1.5 million more homes in the next decade will freeze and reduce the development fees cities charge developers for the infrastructure to support the residents their buildings will house.

Across the GTA and beyond, politicians and bureaucrats are reeling at the prospect of what the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) estimates will be a $5.1 billion revenue shortfall over nine years, including $400 million in lost funding for community housing.

Civic officials across the region are using words like “unfathomable” and “devastating” to describe the fallout — tax hikes, service cuts and axed capital projects such as roads, sewers and transit.

The largesse that the Ford cabal is serving up to its developer overlords will come at a heavy cost to municipal taxpayers.

Mississauga says the new development rules will mean an $885 million loss in revenue over the next decade. Filling the gap would require a five per cent property tax increase every year for at least 10 years and/or cuts to city services and capital projects, according to city staff.

The government's propaganda would have the simple believe that the bill will result in more houses built in a cheaper and more timely manner. As well, Housing Minister Steve Clark says it will provide incentive for developers 

to build more affordable and purpose-built rentals thanks to new fee exemptions on those projects. It will also help reduce the cost of housing for those looking to buy.

Critics say 

there is nothing in Bill 23 that compels developers to build the kind of affordable rentals and supportive housing that protects against homelessness.

“If municipalities lose this funding they’re put in an impossible position. They will not have enough money to pay for the infrastructure that we need to continue for current and new Ontarians,” said Toronto NDP MPP Jessica Bell, a member of the legislative committee charged with gathering public feedback on the bill.

She said she was struck by the sheer enormity of the housing bill, which is hitting at the same time as the Premier Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservative government has allotted strong mayor powers to Toronto and turned over 7,400 acres of the protected Greenbelt to housing development.

Richmond Hill Mayor David West said his city has also asked the province to pause Bill 23 to allow for consultation.

“The costs to municipalities when growth does not pay for growth will be unfathomable,” said West.

“You either have to do without growth infrastructure, or the infrastructure can’t be paid for any other way but through property taxes,” he said. “That tax base was never designed to pay for this kind of growth.”

Clearly, there is method in the Ford madness. As has been observed, Bill 23 comes at a time when many new city councils have yet to be sworn in, and even those that have been have had no time to digest the full implications of this retrograde bill.

I recall not too long ago that Doug Ford was booed publicly. I suspect that experience will ultimately be dwarfed by the massive outrage that will ensue once the effects of this destructive bill are felt: closed libraries, decaying infrastructure, massive tax hikes: these are not the rantings of prophets of doom. Rather, they are the inevitable outcomes of having elected a government whose primary allegiances are hardly with the people they, in theory, serve.

 

 UPDATE: Bill 23, the More Obscene Profits for Developers Act, has passed.