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.

The Word Of The Day

It is a word that I don't often use, but it is one that seems especially apt in describing the Greenbelt corruption stench currently assaulting us in Ontario.

Many Ontarians, as I have been posting, are indeed nauseated by the flagrant and brazen way in which the Ford government is thumbing its collective nose at us. Sometimes, that miasma is so strong that we cannot rid ourselves of its noisome nature. As I have been posting of late, letters and commentary bespeak the deep sense of betrayal citizens of this province feel, one that the Ford/developers cabal hope will soon dissipate.

In his most recent column, Martin Regg Cohn reminds us of that betrayal, and the fact that up to now, Ford has somehow enjoyed a peculiar passivity from the public.

Consider how, even after an incriminating video leaked out in 2018 of Ford vowing to bulldoze those protected lands, Ontarians still gave him a free pass in that year’s election.

Back then, voters took him at his word when he quickly renounced that secret plan, promising to leave the Greenbelt untouched. He has been coasting in power ever since.

But after winning his second election in 2022, Ford reversed himself for the second time. Will voters once again forgive Ford’s double talk — and forget his double cross — when they judge his actions next time, as they did in 2018 and again in 2022?

The augeries suggest that this time, things may be different. The last time, the Oppositiion was weak and unfocussed. Now, with a vigourous campaign for the leadership of the Liberal Party underway, there is blood in the water that will be exploited to its maximum potential.

If this is prime time for the Greenbelt scandal, it is also a perfect time for the Liberals to make the most of it — and run with it.

The opposition is seizing the opportunity. An auditor general’s report this month condemned the contorted, corrupted process, estimating a potential $8.28-billion windfall for “favoured” private developers.

If voters weren’t riled up a year ago, they are raging today, according to Nate Erskine-Smith, the Toronto MP who is one of five candidates for the Liberal leadership.

“People shrugged their shoulders in the last election,” he mused. “They said, ‘Ford wasn’t as bad as I thought he was going to be.’”

More importantly, Erskine-Smith argues, the Liberals weren’t as good as they needed to be. Voters looking for an alternative to Ford had little to look at — but that’s changed with the Liberal revival and the Tory betrayal.

And the past will surely come back to haunt Ford.

In early 2018 while running for the Progressive Conservative leadership, Ford confided behind closed doors that he would “open a big chunk” of the Greenbelt if he became premier. “We need to open that up and create a larger supply.”

When word leaked out, Ford gave his word that he would do no such thing.

“The people have spoken,” he mused.

Spoken like a man of the people.

“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.”

We now know, of course, that the only simple element was Ford's assumption that the electorate is simple. The insouciance with which he betrayed his promise is ample testament to that.

In the 2018 election, people were tired of the corruption they percieved in the Wynne government. Now that corruption has a different venue, Ford's front porch, so to speak.

Now, the stench of scandal wafting in the air is potentially eight times bigger, given the $8-billion Greenbelt bonanza for developers cited in the auditor’s report as these lucky landowners see their profits rise from the rezoning of previously protected lands. Today it is Ford — who once cast Wynne as the embodiment of corruption, guilty of enriching so-called “insiders” and friends riding the Liberal “gravy train” — who is under scrutiny for impropriety.

Time will only tell whether the electorate is in a forgiving mood after being so egregiously hoodwinked. My sense is they are not; personal integrity and respect for democracy and citizenship require a different response, one I hope will be definitively delivered in the next provincial election.

Clearing The Air

H/t Moudakis

Here in Ontario, there are two reasons our air quality is compromised: this summer's ongoing forest fires and the stench of corruption whose source is Queen's Park. Of the two challenges, the latter is the most foul. The good news, however, is that people are no longer just holding their nose and going about their business. Columns, editorials and voluminous letters to the editor attest to that fact.

In my last post, I encouraged people to read Martin Regg Cohn's piece. He has another one in today's Star that also merits perusal. It insists, using Municipal Affairs Minister Steven Clark's own words, that he must resign.

Now I know the concept of ministerial responsibility has degenerated into being just a quaint notion, but as Regg Cohn points out, it was a principle near and dear to Clark just a handful of years ago - when he and his fellow cabal members were in Opposition.

Day after day, he rose in the legislature demanding that Liberal cabinet ministers do the right thing — resign — after doing the wrong thing. I could list the top 10 reasons why Clark should quit, but he would surely remain impervious to persuasion.

Let us instead recite Clark’s own persuasive reasoning from years past. Given how his own chief of staff orchestrated and curated the Greenbelt giveaway while he feigned ignorance, consider Clark’s record of demanding resignations from other errant ministers:

“It’s sad to say that they’ve killed the tradition — actually, no, the duty — of ministerial responsibility,” Clark hectored the Liberal government in 2016 as he targeted the energy minister of the day (Glenn Thibeault). “There used to be a time when ministers took their integrity seriously and believed they had to have the trust of the province … Will you stand up, premier, walk over to the minister’s desk and ask him to resign?”

In May 2017, Clark gave a long speech on the long-standing tradition that a minister should quit when under a cloud: “A minister of the Crown would do the right thing and step aside until their name was cleared,” he thundered. “There’s never any shame, never any dishonour in doing the right thing.”

The column is filled with examples of Clark's high dudgeon over ministers failing to take responsibility and doing the right thing, all underscoring his current breathtaking corruption and hypocrisy. I highly encourage you to read it.

Meanwhile, the fury expressed in letters to the editor remains unabated.

Ford must take responsibility for Greenbelt

Ontario to establish working group to deal with Greenbelt probe fallout, Aug. 14

I take great umbrage in being asked to swallow the excuses of our Premier Doug Ford that neither he nor Housing Minister Steve Clark were in the loop on such a red-hot-button decision as opening up the Greenbelt.

Sorry Doug, high school is out and “the dog ate my homework” doesn’t cut it.

I applaud the media for turning the lights on high on this Greenbelt Scandal. Yes folks, SCANDAL. Repeat it often so it becomes indelible in our minds, even when offered a free hamburger at Fordfest.

David Ottenbrite, Cambridge

A disservice to the people of Ontario

Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservatives ‘favoured certain developers’ in controversial Greenbelt plan, auditor general finds in scathing report, Aug. 9

I can see the statues in the Gallery of Infamous Conservative Premiers of Ontario with Mike Harris, who gave away Highway 407 and Doug Ford, who gave away the Greenbelt. Surely these two will go down in history as two premiers who did a great disservice to the people of Ontario.

Charles Campisi, Oakville

Housing crisis is about affordability

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

The auditor general’s report confirms it. This government is corrupt. It is not “for the people” but rather for the ultra-rich cronies who are well connected.

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’s Greenbelt 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 housing crisis, but it’s about affordability.

Giacomo Tonon, Willowdale

Follow the honourable path — resign

$8B question with no believable answers, Aug. 15

Certainly affordable housing must be built. However, there are lands available (not in the Greenbelt) that would certainly serve the purpose.

It is obvious that Ryan Amato, chief of staff for Housing Minister Steve Clark, is the scapegoat in this tawdry mess orchestrated by Premier Doug Ford and Clark.

The entire situation is the quintessence of subterfuge.

Ford, Clark and Amato should take the honourable path and resign.

Jeffrey Manly, Toronto

For shame, Doug Ford

$8B question with no believable answers, Aug. 15

Doug Ford and his Housing Minister Steve Clark deny any knowledge on how Ryan Amato, chief of staff for the housing minister, decided which land parcels to remove from the Greenbelt, for development.

This despite 78 organizations registering strong opposition to the proposed changes since it was announcement last fall.

Under such scrutiny, it’s impossible to believe that the Premier and housing minister didn’t check and double check the decisions that were made.

If, in fact, they didn’t know that developers were choosing the land tracts to be removed, they should at the very least be declared incompetent and lose their jobs.

Clark and Amato have got to go. And shame on you Doug Ford for insulting the intelligence of the citizens of Ontario thinking we would buy your story.

Laura Fehr, Mississauga

People are angry. They are angry at the betrayal of a premier's promise not to touch the Greenbelt, they are angry at the billions in profits being funnelled to the connected few, and perhaps most of all, they are angry at being treated as brainless, expected to suck up the transparent lies that the Ford cabal is so addicted to perpetuating.

I think this scandal and the current outrage has legs. There is only one solution: a criminal investigation resulting in criminal charges against its architects. It's the only way to clear the air.

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.