Housing market

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Doug Ford assured developers he plans to open up Greenbelt to housing development
(Toronto Star, Robert Benzie & Kristin Rushowy, Apr 30 2018)

Doug Ford has privately assured developers he will “open a big chunk” of protected land in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area to housing if the Progressive Conservatives win the June 7 election.

In a video recorded Feb. 12 and shared with the media Monday by the governing Liberals, Ford said the 800,000-hectare swath of environmentally sensitive and agricultural land known as the Greenbelt is “just farmer fields.”

“It’s right beside a community. We need to open that up and create a larger supply,” he said, noting that will lead to “price drops” in housing in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area.

“I’ve already talked to some of the biggest developers in the country, and, again, I wish I could say it’s my idea, but it was their idea as well,” the PC leader said in February.…

It was unclear how Ford could expand the Greenbelt if the preserved land is paved over for development.

Housing Minister Peter Milczyn pointed out, that as a city councillor when his late brother Rob Ford was mayor, the Tory leader wanted to redevelop Toronto’s port lands and build a massive Ferris wheel.

“It’s very disturbing how Doug makes policy and the implications and the repercussions of that policy, but I’ve seen Doug do this at city hall — whoever whispers a business idea into his … ear, that’s what he runs with,” said Milczyn, who served on council with Ford.

Environment Minister Chris Ballard, who disclosed the existence of the video to reporters at Queen’s Park, said it is proof that “Doug Ford has made secret promises to big developers.”

“Once elected premier, he will bulldoze a great swath of the Greenbelt and turn it into the largest condo farm this province has ever seen,” said Ballard, who represents Newmarket-Aurora.

“Ford’s promise to pave the Greenbelt, not only encourages sprawl, but it puts farmland, wild land and wetlands, including ravines and rivers currently protected, at risk of being encroached and even replaced by new suburban development,” he said.

NDP MPP Peter Tabuns (Toronto Danforth) said “the Greenbelt has to be defended if we’re going to have liveable cities in Ontario.”

“You have to curb sprawl. It doesn’t strike me as a practical suggestion. It sounds like something that a land speculator would be very happy with,” said Tabuns.

Read it in full here.