The Wetlands: Is there an issue? Most certainly. Is there a police investigation? Not yet

By Pepper Parr

January 7th, 2023

BURLINGTON, ON

Is there an issue?

Most certainly.

Is there a police investigation?

Not yet – the Ontario Provincial Police’s anti-rackets branch have begun making calls as they work to determine whether to open an investigation into the Ford government’s plan to allow development in parts of the Greenbelt.

The provincial government’s plan to open up sections of the Greenbelt — a long-protected swath of farmland, forests and wetlands that curves around Lake Ontario — to housing development has generated significant backlash from the public, many of whom want to see environmental protections kept in place.

Questions about the financial implications were raised in November by a joint Toronto Star-Narwhal investigation that found that developers had been buying up parts of the Greenbelt.
In one case, a prominent Ontario development company paid $80 million for two parcels of land that, at the time, could not be built on — only to see that land proposed for development just weeks later. If construction goes ahead, land values could skyrocket.

That’s what is known at this point.

Among the groups that complained — and have now received a call from an investigator — was environmental advocacy group Environmental Defence, which lodged a complaint over what executive director Tim Gray says are concerns that private companies could be making money at the public’s expense.

Wetlands are a critical part of our environment

Background:
The provincial government’s plan to open up sections of the Greenbelt — a long-protected swath of farmland, forests and wetlands that curves around Lake Ontario — to housing development has generated significant backlash from the public, many of whom want to see environmental protections kept in place.

Further questions about the financial implications were raised in November by a joint Toronto Star-Narwhal investigation.

The timing of some deals has raised eyebrows over whether developers were tipped off ahead of time — or whether they just made a well-timed bet.

Tim Gray, Executive Director of Environmental Defence said: “There’s no public interest argument for why this is being done,” he said. “But there’s very clearly a private interest benefit occurring here to particular landowners, many of which purchased land since the government has been elected.”

Gray says an investigator told him in December that they’re taking the issue “very seriously.” He said he was told that police have received 13 complaints and are speaking to everyone who sent in detailed letters and beginning to review evidence.

A spokesperson for the Ontario Provincial Police would not confirm that interviews were under way, but said in an emailed statement that the anti-rackets branch “is continuing to review information from complainants to determine if there is any evidence to support an actual investigation.”

Premier Doug Ford’s office did not respond to the Star’s request for comment, but told Global News that the OPP had not yet contacted the government.

In 2018, Ford was recorded privately telling developers that he would open “a big chunk” of the land up for housing should he be elected, calling it “just farmer fields.” But the tape sparked public backlash, prompting Ford to promise he wouldn’t touch the land after all. It’s a pledge he is now going back on.
The plan, officially announced in November, was to remove 7,400 acres from the Greenbelt and add 9,400 elsewhere, though it’s not clear if the new land would have equivalent ecological value.

Ford pitched the plan as a way to ease red-hot housing prices by increasing supply in the Toronto and Hamilton areas, as part of a goal to build 1.5-million homes in the next decade.

That’s an idea that environmentalists such as Gray have pushed back against, arguing that there is sufficient land elsewhere that could be developed, and that keeping what is arguably the province’s biggest natural area is important for food growth and wildlife habitat. Parks Canada has also warned that removing the protected status of some Durham-area land would cause “irreversible damage.”

One more bit of useful information.  The attempt on the part of Doug Ford, in 2019, to have close friend Toronto Police Supt. Ron Taverner chosen to become the new commissioner of the OPP

Premier Doug Ford and Toronto Police Supt. Ron Taverner.

Why does it matter? “The OPP can be called in to investigate provincial politicians.

The idea that the police force needs to be 100 per cent independent of politicians is more than a theoretical concern in Ontario. The OPP investigated top aides to both former Liberal premiers Dalton McGuinty (over deleting government documents about the gas plants scandal) and Kathleen Wynne (over bribery allegations surrounding a byelection race). Doubts would have clearly been cast over those investigations had a longtime friend of either premier been running the OPP at the time.