By Staff
September 4th, 2023
BURLINGTON, ON
Before his Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing resigned Premier Doug Ford spoke to the Association of Municipalities in Ontario using phrasing that appeared to be putting the blame for the housing crisis on the backs on immigrants.
In an opinion piece Toronto Star political columnist , late in August said:
“He used the same phrasing again two days later, reading from the same Teleprompter: “Failing to act threatens to erode our unwavering support for immigration.”
“Again 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.”
Premier Doug Ford: Does he understand the people of Ontario?
“Over and over, again and again, Ford purports to be raising the alarm in his role as a guardian of social cohesion. But if tolerance is truly his goal, the premier is playing with rhetorical fire.
“It’s not a dog whistle. It’s a bullhorn being blown from Ford’s bully pulpit.
“The premier’s comments this week to the Association of Municipalities of Ontario were especially unseemly and unsettling. His speech brought back memories of Ford’s performance in early 2018, when he told an audience of northern mayors that he wanted to put Ontarians to work first, before ever letting in foreigners who might take their jobs.
“Back then, Ford’s parochial pitch fell flat in front of a more worldly audience of northerners, who well understood the massive demand for talented foreign doctors and nurses, teachers and preachers, traders and tradespeople in their rapidly depopulating cities and towns. But it took a while for the premier to catch on.
“Again in 2018, Ford turned his wrath on “illegal border-crossers,” picking a fight with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau by claiming, wrongly, that “this mess was 100 per cent the result of the federal government.” It was an attempt to whip up resentment then, just as he risks fanning prejudice now.
Let’s be clear about the housing squeeze, the Greenbelt gambit and the foreign factor. No matter how many times Ford tries to connect the dots and paint by numbers, he is making it up as he goes along.
“As much as Ford keeps pointing to future immigration levels as justification for his action, the truth is that the housing shortage long predates it. Even as the premier continually cites the Greenbelt giveaway as the prerequisite to building new homes, the reality is that his own housing advisory task force (and the auditor) argued the precise opposite.
“In fact, there is more than enough land that can be repurposed to meet the government’s building targets without cannibalizing protected lands. In any case, the auditor’s report notes that the government had already met its specific housing targets last October, a full month before it suddenly went back to the well by targeting the Greenbelt.”
It was the tone of the staff comment that prompted my rant. Here is my next! I personally don’t believe that Ontario can support the population growth within current urban boundaries. I have no opinion (yet) on how the GreenBelt as been handled until all facts are known. Unless the RCMP lay charges then it is non story to me. I strongly oppose tens of thousands of mostly tiny condos along the GO stations in Burlington or similar structures anywhere else. Toronto is rapidly becoming the equivalent of notable progressive US cities. Our infrastructure is collapsing, health, roads, education schools etc. A good local physical example is the recent catastrophic collapse of Glenview gymnasiumtwo days after the school year which I personally inspected and am very active on. Canada is rapidly morphing into a developing nation status under present (non) leadership at all government levels.A dysfunctional nation.Even Kleenex is leaving….LOL
Ted, if you read the story carefully, the Greenbelt Scam has nothing to do with immigration or housing for that matter.It has everything to do with land speculation and GREED on the part of a handful of Ford’s friends. The spin is coming from the Premier!
At least Ford has managed to take focus off the Highway 413 scandal.
Editor’s note: Don’t bet on that – there is blood in the water, the sharks are circling.
Anyone who seriously believes that record immigration and an unknown number of student (many dubious) visas is not contributing to accommodation issues is delusional. Before the summer break the feds passed legislation allowing Quebec to only select francophone immigrants which significantly impacts Ontario. Spin it all you want to the greenbelt but it is a significant factor. If the feds were serious about accommodation costs they would mandate tiered mortgage interest rates, lower rates for primary residence holders and developers of affordable accomodations and higher rates for those holding multiple properties. Speculators should be faced with significant premiums from all sides. Interest rates are not coming down any time soon for a variety of reasons. RBC this past week pointed out serious renewal issues in 2025/2026 when more locked in mortgages come due. Individual property holders are getting shafted from all sides. As a retired property owner I will assume no responsibility unless forced to towards subsidizing development to support massive immigration or ideological pursuits. I will go down fighting and exercise my options particularly tax avoidance which is legal.