The "C" Word

No, I'm not referring either to cancer or a crude anatomical term. The "C" word of the day, and of many, many days ahead, I hope, is CORRUPTION, writ large when thinking about and referring to Ontario's Doug Ford's administration/cabal. Hard driving questions from the media, and a wealth of letters to the editor, suggest the Greenbelt theft is not going quietly into that good night. 

May the dog days of summer continue thus.

Ahmar Khan

@AhmarSKhan

This is a fascinating back-and-forth between Minister Bethlenfalvy and journalists who push back hard.

@robertbenzie

says Ontarians do care a lot about this issue— and

@CityCynthia

presses on why the government doesn’t revisit the Greenbelt deal.

Ordinary Ontarians, who Ford minions claim to meet with everyday, are certainly not heedless of the stench of rot emanating from the government either:

Ford’s trust problems go far beyond the Greenbelt

How Doug Ford can accelerate housing supply without eroding public trust, Aug. 14

I didn’t realize that senior fellows at the Fraser Institute had taken to comedy writing.

I literally laughed out loud when I read Josef Filipowicz’s column.

There is no way Premier Doug Ford can rebuild trust, and the issues go far beyond the Greenbelt giveaway: the spa no one wants at Ontario Place; moving the Science Centre from its iconic location; saying no one will ever need their credit card to access health care as reports of demands for personal payment multiply daily; underfunding our education system, including not bargaining in good faith with teachers; the emergency room closures, especially in rural areas, to name just a few examples.

People will not stay home when the next election rolls around.

Patricia Wilmot, Toronto

OPP investigation into Greenbelt deal is required

Doug Ford going on the offensive amid Greenbelt land swap firestorm, Aug. 11

In what world is the “boss” not responsible for the actions of his underlings?

I find Premier Doug Ford’s and the minister of housing Stephen Clark’s statements concerning their staff’s involvement with real estate developers on the Greenbelt preposterous.

I believe an OPP investigation into this file is required.

Further more, these real estate developers do not build “affordable housing,” they build luxury homes on estate-sized lots; the Greenbelt offers great opportunity for this type of housing.

Jim Plant, Port Hope

Ford reneged on his promise and the deal he cut stinks

Doug Ford going on the offensive amid Greenbelt land swap firestorm, Aug. 11

Premier Doug Ford vowed to leave the protected Greenbelt alone.

Here is what he promised: “The people have spoken. I’m going to listen to them, they don’t want me to touch the Greenbelt, we won’t touch the Greenbelt. Simple as that.”

Not only has he reneged on his promise, but the deal stinks and should be investigated by the RCMP.

What we need is recall regulation that would remove from office the likes of Ford and his cronies. We deserve much better from our representatives.

Norman Favro, Burlington

How can we the people trust anything Ford government does?

10 key take-aways from the auditor general’s Greenbelt report, Aug. 9

The auditor general’s report confirms what I and most of Ontario suspected. This government is corrupt. It is not “for the people” but rather for the ultra-rich cronies who are well connected.

In the case of the Greenbelt, the social contract has been broken.

How can we the people trust anything this government does? The whole premise of a housing “crisis” is a ruse. As outlined in the AG report, even the Ontario government acknowledged in 2022 that there was enough serviceable land outside the Greenbelt to meet the Ford government’s housing targets. We do have a crisis, but it’s really about affordability. If anyone thinks that building million-dollar single-family homes in suburban car-dependent cloisters will provide relief to homebuyers, and reduce the numbers of homeless people on our streets, dream on.

Giacomo Tonon, Willowdale

Finally, if you subscribe to the Toronto Star, be sure to read Martin Regg Cohn's column today. He notes, with interest, that neither the allegedly rogue chief of staff, Ryan Amato, nor his apparently incompetent boss, Municipal HJousing Minister Steven Clark, have been fired.

To Remember Is To Have Real Power

I realize that on the surface, the troubles we face in Ontario are likely of little more than passing interest to those living in other jurisdictions. However, wherever citizens live, any government that chooses to lie to its electorate has a corrosive effect on democracy. Some will ask, "What is the point of voting if, after they are elected, they renege on their promises?" That, and similar sentiments undermine faith in our institutions, and that is never good for social cohesion. We have only to look to the United States to see that truth.

Passive acceptance, shrugging cynicism, defeatism: these are the reactions that the Doug Ford cabal both provoke and likely hope for. That, and an electorate with a notoriously short memory. But perhaps this time it will be different, given the brazenness of the Greenbelt theft, the stench of betrayal and corruption of this $8 billion gift to wealthy developers assaulting us daily. The fact that Tory insiders are exultant because the legislature does not resume until late September should only add to our collective anger; that, and the egregious contempt this corrupt administration is showing for our intelligence, evident in Ford doubling down on his messaging that this is all about a stalwart way of meeting the housing crisis.

I sense that messaging is not working. On Sunday, a rally in Pickering protesting the Greenbelt decimation saw hundreds turn out.

“Waiting for Doug Ford to do the Right thing,” read the sign propped up beside the skeleton, mimicking a tableau usually reserved for jokes about Maple Leaf fans waiting for the Stanley Cup.

Pickering is home to the Duffins Rouge Agricultural Preserve — a swath of land once called the “Crown Jewel of the Greenbelt,” that lost its protection when Ford’s Progressive Conservative government made changes to the Greenbelt lands in late 2022.

“We’re not going to let the premier weather this storm,” said Abdullah Mir, 30, the co-chair of a Stop Sprawl Durham. “That’s what these people think, that this whole thing is a joke, and we’re just going to roll over and forget about it. This isn’t the end of it.”

Indeed, judging by the editorials and voluminous letters to the editor, the electorate may have a longer memory than is healthy for a corrupt government's longterm viability. Here are a few letters from The Hamilton Spectator suggesting that the government 'messaging' is not working.

Remember a broken promise 

The honest report by Ontario’s Auditor General Bonnie Lysk confirms that Doug Ford and housing minister’s chief of staff and minister Steve Clark must go due to lies and Greenbelt decisions rendered. The disregard for Ontario’s public intelligence with their broken promises is ridiculous. Would the First Nations Leaders continue to intervene due to their success with Douglas Creek and Land Back Lane and everyone support all the groups and agencies that are trying to hold Ford and friends accountable. Prime farmland and environmentally sensitive areas require protection from the thieves.

 

Will all Ontario voters please remember the broken promise by Ford?

 

 

Garry Young, Canfield

Don’t hook up new houses

I wonder if any city is under a legal obligation to connect a new survey to their water and sewer systems. If not, why not just let the developers know that they will not be hooking them up and see what happens.

 

Terry Middlemiss, Hamilton 

Time for Ford to go

Doug Ford is a dangerous concoction of arrogance, incompetence and greed. He is an offence to the voting public and our democratic process. He should be removed from office forthwith including his entourage of lawless delinquents. 

 

 

This abuse of power is crying out for an investigation by the OPP for what he has done and will continue to do if left in office

Ross Prince, Hamilton

A better Greenbelt solution

So, removal of 15 parcels of land from the Greenbelt could result in a $8.3 billion windfall for select developers. Corruption? To be determined. Incentive for corruption? Obviously.

 

When land is required for community interests (say an LRT system), the owners of said land do not “win the lottery.” Instead, the government expropriates the land, paying fair market value. Why not the same rules for developers? 

 

If opening up Greenbelt land is truly required to address housing concerns (dubious to say the least), then expropriate said land at the nonspeculative current fair market price and sell it back to the highest bidder after the zoning changes are made. Voilà, the $8.3 billion windfall goes to all citizens of Ontario (at the price of green space lost forever), not a select well-connected few.

 

 

Such a change would remove a strong motivation for corruption. As an added bonus I also suspect it would result in developers suddenly becoming much more interested in infilling or building on currently available serviced land than on lobbying for zoning changes. 

 

Kirt Kushnie, Waterdown

 

 

 

There Will Always Be A Place For Doug Ford

H/t Greg Perry

Some people have very deep, expansive pockets.

UPDATED: A Time Of Reckoning

 Most have probably heard about or seen the video of the violent confrontation occurring in Montgomery, Alabama the other day. A riverboat was unable to dock because a group of white louts took up its berth. After 45 minutes of trying to get them to move their small vessel via the ship's PA, the Black co-captain of the riverboat went ashore and tried to untie the vessel. It was at this point that fisticuffs ensued.

Was this a racially-motivated group assault? I don't know if it necessarily started that way, but other than the possibility that those responsible for the misplaced craft were simply poor white trash doing their thing, it would seem that they took exception to being told to do something by a Black man. 

Once they began pummelling him, several other Black people came to his assistance, and the melee ensued. The following video is a powerful statement as to why so many came to the beleaguered co-captain's aid. It is well-worth watching, and is a potent reminder of the racial violence that pervades American history and culture, as well as the sense of community evident as people rose to the co-captain's defence.

If this topic interests you, I strongly recommend a Vox article that first looks at the dog-whistle, racist C&W song, Try That In A Small Town, sung by Jason Aldean; it then juxtaposes the song's sentiments with the brawl. Aldean's defenders say the tune is simply about promoting a sense of community and defending its people and values; the song's references and venue (the latter a site of lynchings) belie those sentiments. 

The writer then looks at the sense of community that surfaced as the Black co-captain was being pummelled by the white thugs. It would seem Aldean's song was never intended to include the safety and community of Black people.

Feel free, of course, to draw your own conclusions.

UPDATE: Damien Pickett, the Montgomery riverboat co-captain, explains what he experienced:

Pickett told police that the captain had asked a group on a pontoon boat “at least five or six times” to move from the riverboat’s designated docking space but they responded by “giving us the finger and packing up to leave”. Pickett and another deckhand eventually took a vessel to shore and moved the pontoon boat “three steps to the right”, he wrote.

He said two people ran rushing back, including one cursing and threatening to beat him for touching the boat. Pickett wrote that one of the men shouted that it was public dock space, but Pickett told them it was the city’s designated space for the riverboat. He said he told them he was “just doing my job”. Pickett said he was punched in the face and hit from behind.

“I went to the ground. I think I bit one of them. All I can hear Imma kill you” and beat you, he wrote. He couldn’t tell “how long it lasted” and “grabbed one of them and just held on for dear life”, Pickett wrote.

Hoping Against Hope

If you are part of the Doug Ford cabal, you must certainly and ardently hope the above is true. If it isn't, you may intuit that you are in big trouble with the electorate, despite the crowing of some Tory insiders that the legislature does not resume until the end of September, long after an often somnolent public has gone back to its repose.

If letters to the editor are any indication, the public mood is sour over the Greenbelt corruption that is obvious to most. Here are a few of those letters:

We must hold our premier accountable

• Toronto Star
• 11 Aug 2023

Ford’s sweetheart deal betrayed public trust, Aug. 10

Ontario Place, the Science Centre, Greenbelt, Duffins Rouge Agricultural Preserve … where will all of the corruption in the Ford government end? The auditor general’s report on the Greenbelt and land swaps notes a total lack of playing by the rules that the public expects from our elected leaders. An audit demands accountability and proof of integrity. This government needs to be held accountable and the first action should be to demand the resignation of the minister and staff accountable to us. 

Jane Veit, Scarborough

Now that we have the auditor general’s report, perhaps the Trudeau government will at last stand up to Premier Doug Ford. How did Ford’s plans at Ontario Place get away without an environmental assessment or an impact assessment? The feds are responsible for federal areas of jurisdiction that Ford has encroached upon. Federal ministers could intervene but … crickets. The unholy alliance of Freeland and Ford is hopefully at an end as Ford digs a grave for himself. That is unless Ford is thrown a lifeline by the Liberals who may see advantages to propping up Ford rather than defending the environment. 

Bruce Van Dieten, Toronto

When former mayor Rob Ford was coach of a high school football team, he genuinely thought that commandeering a municipal bus to get his players out of the rain was a perquisite of his other job as mayor of Toronto. Like his younger brother, Premier Doug Ford has trouble with the idea that the use of democratic power should be limited to projects that benefit citizens, along with the democratic concept that it is the duty of each elected representative to honour that restriction. 

Don Reynolds, Toronto

Premier Doug Ford proposes to remove about 7,400 acres from the Greenbelt zone in order to have land for building houses. At the same time, he intends to put about 9,400 acres into the Greenbelt zone. Why not leave the 7,400 acres alone and build houses on the 9,400 acres elsewhere? This looks like a winwin solution, except for the developers who benefitted from the swap. That is a risk that persons speculating take. 

Jacob Psutka, Toronto

"Banana Republic Corruption"

H/t Theo Moudakis

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.

Blame Trudeau

Everyone else does.

THE PROVOCATION: 

Justin Trudeau

@JustinTrudeau

·

Aug 6

We’re team Barbie.

Famous windbag Piers Morgan expressed his displeasure this way.

“So glad I’m not Canadian.”

But the ramification of the 'transgression' goes far beyond old Piers' disapprobation: 

THE CONSEQUENCE:

The galaxy has spoken.