By Pepper Parr
September 25th, 2023
BURLINGTON, ON
She didn’t waste a second.
When NDP Leader of the Opposition Marit Stiles rose in her seat and said:”This summer people across the province of Ontario were feeling the strain of the rising affordability crisis, cost of living crisis, a housing affordability crisis. And meanwhile, they’ve watched their government lurch from scandal to scandal, crisis to crisis. Now we’ve seen the resignation of three cabinet ministers and two senior staffers so far.
NDP Leader of the Opposition Marit Stiles going after the Premier.
Speaker my question is to the Premier. How can people trust this Premier to work for them when he has spent the last five years putting his friends and insiders first
The Premier. Thank you, Mr. Speaker I want to welcome our friends from Arizona. Welcome. I look forward to speaking to you later. If you think politics are tough in the United States watch us for the next while.
Premier Doug Ford: Has difficulty standing up to the Leader of the Opposition.
“I want to thank the Leader of the Opposition for the question and I’ll answer – the reason why people should trust us when we came to office it was like walking into a bankrupt company. There was 300,000 jobs lost down to our friends down to the US. And now there’s 700,000 more people working today.
“We’re building $184 billion of infrastructure. We’re focusing on $70 billion of building roads and bridges and highways. We’re focusing on making sure the largest transit system largest transit system in North America, we’re building 50 new sites and hospitals are additions to hospitals spending over $50 billion.
Stiles: Talk about the past, not even at the height of the Liberals gas plant scandal has a government been in such disarray. The government said they were going to clean things up. That’s what this Premier ran on, and now he’s embroiled in a scandal that has seen ethics laws broken. Three cabinet ministers have resigned in disgrace or run for the exits. Conservatives are leaving under a cloud of suspicion and they’re lawyering up speaker. The Premier has said the buck stops with him. So let’s hear from him speaker – will the premier finally come clean and explain his personal involvement in the Green Belt scandal?
Premier: “I was very clear on my message to the people of Ontario on Thursday. That’s what you call leadership, admitting if there was a mistake and moving forward and making sure we get on with our agenda. But that’s not going to deter us from building 1.5 million homes. My friends from Arizona probably don’t realize that Ontario’s leading North America in economic development and trade and growth. We’re the fastest growing region right now in North America.
“We have over 800,000 people coming to Ontario every single year, and they’re coming to Ontario, because that’s where the prosperity is. That’s where the jobs are. That’s where economic development is. That’s where the quality of life is. You want a great life you come to Ontario, but I can assure the people out there the new Canadians that are coming here, the young people that have the need to afford to buy a home we’re gonna build homes you’re gonna build affordable attainable the final supplementary speaker, things are worse today for people in this province. than they were five years ago.”
Stiles: “This premier won’t share his phone records, emails have been deleted in the midst of this scandal.
“People out there thought something was wrong. And now we have two independent officers of the legislature who have confirmed it, the Conservatives rigged the system to benefit their friends. I mean, it’s so bad speaker. It’s so bad that it’s been turned over to the RCMP. So Speaker My question to the Premier is: Has he spoken to the RCMP about the circumstances of the Greenbelt?”
Premier “Mr. Speaker, is it better now than it was five years ago? It’s not a little better. It’s not 10% Better it’s 1000 times better on all fronts.
“Again, Mr. Speaker, we’re building the transit we’re building the 413 Bradford bypass we’re building highway seven, and highway three to get from point A to point B and people home a lot quicker. Mr. Speaker, as you see us report some of the health reports that I’m going to see, actually reduce the backlog surgeries are going down we’re pouring money into the new nurses that are coming here. There’s 30,000 nurses in our colleges and universities. We saw 15,000 come on board already 67,000 since we’ve been in office 8000 new doctors Mr. Speaker, I could spend another half an hour telling you why the province is 1000 times better now than it was.”
NDP Leader of the Opposition Marit Stiles: If the Premier had spent more time listening to people
Stiles: “If the Premier had spent more time listening to people this summer. People who’ve seen their emergency rooms closed. Kids who can’t get treatment for it with the Autism Program.
“People who were fighting forest fires all across this province, maybe maybe he’d have learned something and he wouldn’t have spent his summer divvying up the spoils to his friends.
“This afternoon. I’m going to be tabling the Greenbelt Restoration Act, the official opposition NDPs bill to restore and protect all of the lands this government removed from the Greenbelt a solution that the premier finally agrees is the right thing to do. We must restore integrity to government Premier. We’re going to be calling for unanimous consent of this house. So to the premier Ontarians will be watching Will he pass our legislation to restore and protect lands in the Greenbelt?”
Paul Calandar – Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing responds to the question.
Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing responds to the question: Calandar:
“No we will not be supporting the member’s legislation. Obviously we have not seen the legislation so we will never provide unanimous consent to something that we have not seen. But to be very clear. We will be voting against that legislation today.
“Mr. Speaker I will be bringing forward legislation very soon, which will not only return the lands but ensure that an additional 7000 acres of land are put into the Greenbelt. And we will go one step further. Mr. Speaker, we will codify and legislation, the boundaries of the Greenbelt Mr. Speaker so that it is protected through legislation and not through regulation. So no, we will not be supporting legislative piece today because we’re going to go further and we’re going to do what has never been done in this province before I respond protect the Greenbelt once and for all.”
Stiles: “Why would anyone trust this government to fix a disaster of their own making? There are still so many questions, so many questions speaker that this Premier and this government refused to answer in this $8.3 billion scandal. So back to the premier. How did these speculators know to give your office the details about the parcels of land to remove from the green belt before it was announced to the public who tipped them off?”
Calandar: “Mr. Speaker, the reality is that both the Auditor General and the Information Commissioner, the Integrity Commissioner have reported on that, Mr. Speaker, but the reality is, is that the NDP and the Liberals continue to double down on policies that have put Ontario into a housing crisis. We have been working for five years to untangle the mess. That was the opposition policy on housing. In fact, Mr. Speaker in the members own writing in the members own writing where average income is about $55,000 a year the average house price is about 1.1 million. It would take somebody $80,000 in mortgage payments just to afford that home and what does the member opposite do? She continues to support policies that would take all of the people in her riding out have the ability to own a home Mr. Speaker, we are going to double down on policies that help build houses for people across the province of Ontario. Make no mistake, we’ll get the job done.”
Stiles: “Not only did it take two scathing reports and unprecedented resignations, to force this premier to do the right thing. Not only did he allow the housing crisis to get worse, yes, worse while this scandal expanded,but he’s put our province in a position where we could be on the hook for billions. Speaker back to the premier. How much is this Government’s Greenbelt disaster going to cost Ontario’s taxpayers?”
Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing doesn’t want to hear another word.
Calandar – Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing “Thank you Speaker – nothing nothing. Mr. Speaker. We will be presenting a bill later on this week which will ensure that the people of the province of Ontario are focused on what matters to them building houses for the people of the province of Ontario. She talks about us adding on to the housing crisis.
“It’s unbelievable to me Mr. Speaker We have seen because of the policies of this government housing starts at the highest level in over 30 years. And it’s not just single family. It’s not the single family homes that the speaker in his purpose built rental that under their policies came to a halt for over 30 years.
“Mr. Speaker, this is a party with the liberals that double down on increasing taxes for the people of the province of Ontario, year after year after year. They think that increasing taxes somehow encourages in the Congress. We have shown that by reducing taxes cutting red tape and investing in priorities of people. 700,000 jobs come back and the economy boomed and now we’re gonna get it done”
The member for Niagara Center Speaker through you to the premier the same favorite insiders who received preferential treatment in the Greenbelt decision are also benefiting from Shady backroom deals for MZO’s, urban boundary expansions and highway 413. Will this government stop paving over protected farmland to enrich its friends?
Calandar: “Well, let’s let’s unpack that if we can. So MZOs were requested by municipal partners for the most part. Where we didn’t get requests from municipal partners is when I was the minister of long term care, we now have a great minister of long term care.
“When I was the minister of long term care, we actually had municipalities for at Hope for instance, that actually refused to give us long term care homes. So I went to the minister and I said, Give me an MZO (Ministerial Zoning Order) because I want to close down 30,40 and 50 year old long term care homes that aren’t sprinklered and build brand new ones. I won’t apologize for doing that. I’ll continue to do it, Mr. Speaker, whether it’s for long term care homes whether it’s for the Minister of colleges and university who wants to build dormitories for students, I’m gonna double down on it and make sure that we build that housing not only for seniors, not only for young families, but for students in his area and in all parts of this province.”
A supplementary question. Member for Hamilton Ancaster Dundas.
“Mr. Speaker, I can assure the minister that the City of Hamilton did not request that you meddle with our urban plan.
“I have been ringing the alarm about this government’s backroom deals for urban sprawl in Hamilton for months now.
“The integrity Commission’s report revealed that the same developers who successfully influenced the Ford government to remove their land from the Greenbelt also benefited from a provincial order to expand the city’s urban boundary. My question, Mr. Speaker, did this government give preferential treatment to developers with Shady MZOs and undemocratic changes to our official plan?”
Calandar: “And there you have it, Mr. Speaker, don’t ya? Right. It’s not about the Greenbelt colleagues. It’s never been about the Greenbelt for them, right. It’s about stopping people from having the same benefits that generations of Ontarians have always had.
Premier Ford responded to the first to question (he never really answered the questions) and then turned it over to his Minister of Housing and sat looking glum and very uncomfortable.
“On the Greenbelt, they don’t even want it built in their own area. In fact, after the decision was made to restore the lands to the Greenbelt, some of those members called me to say that they had already done their job in their area and that they didn’t want to see intensification. They didn’t want to see towers. Well, let me tell you this. We aren’t going to build it all across the province because you know what young Ontarians deserve to have that first home, the seniors who want to downsize deserve to have a place that they can downsize to Mr. Speaker, they deserve to have long term care homes. Our students deserve to have dormitories, Mr. Speaker, that is what is important to all of those people who are in their parents basement right now and want to have a home – we have your back.
“We’ll get the job done.”
While Mike Shriner and Marit Stiles are basking in their Green Belt coup. Canada as a nation is sinking lower and lower. We will all feel the aftershocks of Fridays debacle in parliament. Zelensky is already feeling it. One MP (name witheld) asked for unanimous consent to adopt a motion calling to strike “from the appendix of the House of Commons debates” and from “any House multimedia recording” the text of the Speakers words from Hansard. As though it never happened? The motion was defeated.
Editor’s note: The motion to expunge was put forward by Burlington MP Karina Gould
Calandra rejects NPD simple and obvious motion to repeal the Green Belt grab. His answer:
“Mr. Speaker I will be bringing forward legislation very soon.”
Given the total loss of trust that Ford will ever actually repeal the decision (“I promise I will”: where have we heard that before?) you had better believe that his staff are working overtime to design loopholes and trap doors to hide in whatever legislation actually ever gets proposed, or passed, or proclaimed into law.
I’m waiting anxiously to see when the backbench revolt start in both the provincial PC caucus and the federal Liberal government. Both administrations are saddled with incompetent, ineffectual and hapless leaders whose trust, credibility and respect is shot. My guess is when the popularity levels of both leaders hit the 20% mark the knives will start being unsheathed.
The PC’s they only have three effective Cabinet Ministers (i.e. Smith, Fedelli and McNaughton) and poor Monte called it quits last week. At least someone had the foresight to see the writing on the wall and leave the boat before it sinks.
Anybody who witnessed the Ford Bros dumpster fire at Toronto City Hall a few years ago will not be surprised by the Ford Gravy Train Wreck at Queens Park.