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.

 

 

The Smell Of Protest

Tomorrow marks the day that the Ford Government enacts Bill 23, The Gift To Developers Act. It can also rightfully be designated The Environmental Destruction Act, since it will not only fill the already overloaded bank accounts of Ford's wealthy friends, but also deplete the natural reserves we have to battle the ever-increasing pace of climate change. 

Of course, Conservatives have never been known for their long-range planning capacity.

Nor has this government for the people ever been known for listening to the people. Nonetheless, protests continue, one hopes a cogent reminder that some people have long memories. Here is a clip from one of the protests conducted yesterday:

I suspect the Ford cabal is sadly mistaken that people will return to their usual quiescence once the bill is passed. Too much is at stake environmentally; add to that cost the much higher taxes ratepayers will have to pay since the bill also greatly reduces the fees developers must pay for the infrastructure needed in their sprawling developments. Indeed, the Association of Municipalities of Ontario estimates the bill could leave communities short $5 billion and see taxpayers footing the bill, either in the form of higher property taxes or service cuts.

Like the bully he is, Doug Ford thinks he can imperiously sweep aside opposition by legislative fiat. Yet he is grossly underestimating the popular opposition Bill 23 has provoked. He is also underestimating the power municipalities have in either stopping or greatly slowing down his sprawling vision. As I recently wrote about what some on the newly elected Hamilton city council are contemplating:

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.

May the passions and forces coalescing against Ford's heavy-handed rule ultimately prevail.

The Smell Of Manure

Unless they have spent their entire lives within the confines of a city, I doubt there are many people unacquainted with the smell of manure. This pungent organic waste, while offensive to many, is instrumental in helping to ensure that the land growing our crops is sufficiently fertile to produce good crop yields.

Unfortunately, there is another kind of manure that exhibits a greater stench, that of corruption and the granting of privileged information to select interests. That stench emanates from Queen's Park and the Doug Ford Conservative government.

I recently posted about the Toronto Star-Narwahl joint investigation into that government's decision to open up parts of the Greenbelt to housing developments, a decision that stands to increase the great wealth of several developers with deep ties to the Ford government. 

And therein lies the stench.

A report by CTV News the other day makes clear that insider knowledge has been shared with select developers, one of them being Green Lane Bathurst GP Inc., of which developer Michael Rice is the director. The following report, in my view, definitively illustrates the more-than-cosy relationship Rice and other developers have with our self-proclaimed 'government for the people'. (The video is of subpar quality, as I had to record, compress and then upload the file from my computer: 

Unless one has a naive disposition, one likely will conclude that the evidence of unethical, even illegal, conduct on the part of the Ford cabal is strong. The NDP is calling for the auditor general to investigate this entire imbroglio. I would suggest the Opposition go one step further and request that the Ontario Provincial Police open an investigation and look for the criminal wrongdoing that is strongly suggested by all of this.

A Tale Of Two Realities

This is the story of two 'realities'; one is grounded in the ugly facts of a respiratory illness, RSV, in children; the other, essentially an anti-reality, revolves around shortsighted, reactionary hysteria that does nothing to serve the public good.

First, a tale of a medical emergency involving RSV.

When Weronika Drab’s seven-week-old baby — an otherwise healthy boy with a thick head of dark curls — stopped showing interest in breastfeeding and began flaring his nostrils while catching his breath, she knew “something wasn’t right.” What ensued was a harrowing battle against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), waged over seven days in the local hospital’s pediatric unit.

The portrait of those suffering severe symptoms of this illness is graphic and heartbreaking. Doctor Ronik Kanani, head of pediatrics art North York General Hospital, describes some of those symptoms:

Quick, rapid breaths, wheezing and using extra muscles to breathe are signs infants or young children are having a hard time breathing, Kanani says, noting RSV can also cause pneumonia.

“You might see their belly moving up and down to help them breathe. You might see muscles sucking in between their ribs to help them breathe. There’s so much mucus and inflammation in their lungs they need to use these extra muscles to get a breath.”

Weronika Drab's baby had such symptoms, so she rushed little Ayden to emergency. 

 Drab recalls the first night in the emergency department as “one of the most terrifying of my life” as she watched her son’s oxygen levels plummet on a nearby monitor and a crowd of nurses caring for Ayden.

She said she remembers one nurse supporting Ayden’s head, while another suctioned sticky mucus from his throat and upper airways.

“I couldn’t do anything,” she says. “He was crying — I’ve never heard him cry like that before — and you could tell he was scared; he was so scared.” 

Ayden spent seven days in the hospital’s pediatric unit. He received IV fluids to keep him hydrated and oxygen support through special nasal prongs in his nose. Nurses would often suction out the sticky mucus that caused him to cough and choke and struggle to breathe.

The story goes on, but I think the picture is clear - respiratory ailments in youngsters can be life-threatening and nothing to be dismissive about. 

And yet dismissive is one of the milder words one could use to describe a faction of people attending a school board meeting in Ottawa, where mandatory masking in schools was to be discussed. First, a couple of brief videos capture the madness of 'freedom-fighters' in attendance:

And here is another, showing these 'freedom fighters' in their full faux patriotism, a patriotism that would willingly endanger the lives of the vulnerable:

New trustee Dr. Nili Kaplan-Myrth introduced the motion Tuesday for masks to be required during all activities except for music and other performing arts or sports where they can't be worn, as well as during lunch or snack breaks.

As you can see from the above videos, it did not go well, to the point police had to escort several people out of the building, and the meeting continued only after removing the public and a CBC reporter. 

In response, Kaplan-Myrth posted on Twitter Tuesday night that she's "disgusted that anti-maskers' tactics prevailed."

"They chanted like an angry mob," she continued. "To those who think that your disrespectful conduct is a 'win,' Ottawa children who get sick are your victims."

And what is the rationale for those so adamantly opposed to masking? Of course, the usual suspects were in attendance with their chants of freedom, etc. But there were also parents there who believe their children should not be restricted in any way:

Salma Al-Shehabi, a mother who presented her perspective virtually with her son by her side, requested trustees refrain from implementing mandate masks, citing the importance of children's ability to communicate freely.

She suggested a solution for parents and children concerned about rising respiratory illnesses in the community would be to turn to online learning.

Al-Shehabi said masking "was a personal choice," citing the Ontario Health Ministry's stance. She also noted Moore appeared maskless at an event last week — only days after he "strongly" recommended masks in indoor public settings.

Blake Maguire, a father of four, explained in person how masking has affected his kids. 

"I've noticed anxiety, I noticed depression, my A-student became a C-student," said Maguire, getting emotional. "They're not good for kids right now."

It appears there was at least one rational parent in atendance:

Carolyn Moffatt, a mother of four students, made a virtual presentation in favour of the mask mandate.

Moffatt, who said she was once a midwife with neonatal ICUs and a policy adviser who worked with influenza guidelines, pointed to the current strain on Ontario's children's hospitals due to a surge of respiratory illnesses.

"Do now what you did then. Help our community now," she pleaded with trustees, asking them to repeat their vote to mandate masks in April amid a sixth wave of COVID-19.

So there we have it: a clear and present danger to young children, met with a rabid resistance by misinformed malcontents and misguided parents. 

Oh, Canada indeed. 

 

 

  

The People Speak

 

H/t Moudakis

H/t de Adder

Following up on yesterday's post, here are some of the things people are thinking about when they consider Doug Ford and his unholy relationship with developers:

Doug Ford shows his true colours with attack on the Greenbelt, Cohn, Nov. 11

Premier Doug Ford and his developer cronies want to kill the type of communities federal Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner is talking about and what Jane Jacobs talked about before him.

Building mansions on farmland and conservation areas does not make a community people want to live in. Besides shops and transit, people want well-funded schools in good repair and accessible health care where staff are not devalued in burnout jobs. Cultural amenities are lacking in the suburbs: theatres, galleries, concert halls, museums and parks where people enjoy the benefits of nature.

Doug Ford is not interested in viable communities or nature conservation, and our democracy suffers as a result.

Diane Sullivan, Toronto

The Greenbelt grab, Nov. 19

Kudos to the Star team for looking into what looks like a huge scandal. And I completely agree with the spokesperson for Environmental Defence, who is quoted as saying: “Nobody would pay this amount of money for land if they didn’t think it was going to be open for development.”

The question is, how can this be fully investigated, how can it be stopped and what will happen to those in government who appear to have colluded with those making (at least) the most recent purchases of Greenbelt land now proposed for development?

Truly a very sleazy mess, and one that must be investigated by the police, the Auditor General and appropriate ethics officers.

David S. Crawford, Toronto 

Then there is this letter, from Orillia: 

The Ford government’s recent proposal to open the protected Greenbelt to housing development seems to be, yet again, another financial windfall for his developer friends.

The developer buys the land cheaply because it is protected from development and then reaps gigantic profits when your government changes the rules and allows housing. Some might say that such action may be evidence of shady backroom deals and hidden kickbacks for secret government services rendered. It certainly is not being done for the environment or to the long-term benefit of the citizens of Ontario.

Please protect our watersheds, our conservation areas and our scarce farmland for the next generations. Ontario needs more affordable rental stock and more dense, multi-storey units that are priced according to income. Ontario does not need more urban sprawl and more ‘McMansions’ on our Greenbelt lands.

David Howell
Orillia

And this, from London, Ontario:

You are free to tell Doug Ford to halt his plan to destroy the Greenbelt so we don’t hasten climate change. You are free to tell Doug Ford to stop paving over agricultural land so we can rely on our own country to supply us with food.

As evidenced by his about-face with CUPE, public opinion does matter.

Jennifer Mills, London 

It has been said that politics is perception. If that is true, much of the public is perceiving the dark shadow of corruption and insider information in the government it helped re-elect, either by intention or inertia, this past June. 

 

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.

 

Sad, But Not So Surprising

As I have written before, the evasion of responsibility on the part of the Ford government and its chief medical flunky, Dr. Kieran Moore, is deeply disappointing but not really unexpected. Ideology and political culture almost guarantee that his official stance (get your shots and masks in crowds) will be largely ignored.

However, now Dr. Moore has taken it to a whole new level. Despite his advice to mask up in situations that warrant it, he did this:

Charlie Pinkerton

@CharliePinkerto

On Monday, Ontario’s CMOH Dr. Kieran Moore “strongly recommended” Ontarians wear masks indoors. Last night, 3 days later, he was partying maskless at Toronto Life’s celebration for its 50 most influential Torontonians of 2022, videos show.