By Pepper Parr
September 4rd, 2023
BURLINGTON, ON
David Crombie, former Mayor of Toronto and a lifelong Conservative who served in the government of Joe Clark and Stephen Harper talks about Premier Doug Ford in a 35 minute podcast with one of the Liberal leadership candidate. The following are excerpts from that podcast.
“The original promise to the public, was to not touch the Greenbelt. That was followed by a talk he gave to a number of developers telling them that he would open up the Greenbelt.
“When the Conservative government was re-elected the in 2022 everything changed.
David Crombie
“He was at least honest enough to say “it’s a scam. I don’t believe in the Green Belt. It’s a sea of weeds.”
“No one should be fooling around here. This is not just going to adjust the Green Belt. They want to blow it up. Why?
“Because green belts are our preserves for a long time. The point of having a preserve is to not have speculation of land prices.
“He’s now let loose thousands of acres of land to speculation.
“The auditor general’s report, was incredible enough.
“The Minister’s chief of staff resigns
“Nothing changes
“The idea that a Minister is responsible for what happens on his watch is forgotten.
”We’ve got a situation where the Housing Minister’s Chief of staff attends a private construction dinner where developers are literally handing him private packages
“People are busy so they can’t pay attention to all of this all the time.
“This is daylight robbery. This is not fooling around. A bit of corruption here, a bit of corruption there. This is a heist.
“These guys are bent on doing it.
“Again, listen to the premier, the Premier says the buck stops with me. I take full responsibility.
“Unbelievable, you’re a minister. Is there any world in which you wouldn’t know what was going on in your office?
“I mean, I don’t usually use these words. It’s not my style. But you’ve got to get through to people. These guys just will not tell the truth. And they’ll lie anytime they need to. And they’ve been doing it ever since the idea that somehow the Minister is not accountable for his chief of staff. That is so bizarre.
“The government’s ideology in many ways, is do whatever you can to win and do whatever you can get away with.
“It hurts me to say it, I’ve worked with all three political parties.
“We really need to close ranks when it comes to people who bold faced lie, and at the same time, ruin the future for your children.
“And grandchildren. That’s what they’re doing.”
Link to the full podcast
David Midhurst is spot on! We need housing and no matter what the premier does, he will never satisfy the NDP or Liberals. What do they actually want?
I want to comment on the underlying issue: the Greenbelt and “ruin the future for your grandchildren”.
The proposed Greenbelt incursions are reasonable and needed. The swath of ‘Greenbelt’ lands haphazardly thrown under designation in the first place was too much, too hasty, ill-thought-out and too restrictive. Good for the Ford government to rethink, reorganise and deal with realities proactively.
I worked for NDP (provincial) Research years ago, I was one of those who helped create then-leader Stephen Lewis’s massively effective campaign sloganeering which highlighted how many acres of valuable Ontario farmland were disappearing to development every day in Ontario. I understand commitment to land preservation. I have spent years around promoting climate change technologies, land stewardship and promoting responsible development. There is nothing wrong with taking proper useful-for-new-housing sections out of the ‘Greenbelt’ land bank.
The world is changing, patterns of land use, transportation, work-to-home distance hubs and accessibility to recreation lands and waters.
I am not defending any political processes ‘who-knew-what-when’ and how selections were made. I am not in the know and have no knowledge. I can’t speak to Crombie’s accusations about alleged corruption, “private packages” insinuating payoffs and lies. That will be sorted out. However, I can speak to the fundamental decision the government has made: it is smart, timely and will improve the lives of many people. Housing is what is needed. Closer to home, not further away. The lands designated to be developed are not ‘precious’ or environmentally sensitive. They are good selections of accessible acreage, ripe for residential development. Municipal Planners will see they serve the highest, best purposes. Municipal governments will ensure care is taken to protect and enhance the environment. Good development rewards everyone. Especially Canadians needing homes and housing.
It’s the fault of our voting and non-voting citizens. It has been said that you can run a fire hydrant for MPP in Burlington and win, and recent experience bears that out.
If you send a complimentary message to an MP or MPP you will receive a reply. If you send a critical note you will hear crickets. Was there a book or movie called “The Last Honest Politician”? I can’t recall, but there seems to be no obligation to a pol’s constituents. It’s all about the party and its leader, but really we vote for the candidate whose party spouts the best lies. If lying had legal repercussions our province and country would have 2 different people in charge right now.
WELL SAID!
Our MPP Natalie Pierre continues to ignore every call and email to her office demanding her promised imminent comment on this corruption which is now over three weeks old. Zero accountability from any of them! And the more that’s uncovered every day, the worse it’s getting. The word mafia is now commonly used all over social media.