Ford’s preferential treatment for developers

BREAKING: a damning report from Ontario’s Auditor General confirms what we’ve long suspected. A few chosen developers received “preferential treatment” to hand-pick 92% of the land that Doug Ford’s government removed from the Greenbelt. [1] Now, those developers stand to make $8 billion from that land. [2]

Doug Ford’s plan to strip 7400 acres from the Greenbelt hurts everyone except these wealthy developers. Developing former Greenbelt land will destroy essential farmland, habitats, and natural areas, threaten 29 at-risk species, and drain public resources for what will be unsustainable and unaffordable housing. [3-5]

Ford and his Conservative MPPs were elected on the promise that they would protect the Greenbelt. [6] With that promise in pieces, it’s up to us to hold them accountable as we discover how broken these plans really are. [7]

This explosive report is all over the headlines right now. If we can get enough Conservative MPPs to recognize how much damage this news is doing to the reputation of their party, it could get them to speak up — and pressure Doug Ford to backtrack on his plans. Will you email your MPP to support reversing the changes to Greenbelt boundaries?

The 7400 acres that Doug Ford removed from the Greenbelt are essential. That land grows food, protects wildlife, ensures flood protection, and keeps our drinking water safe. [8]

Housing experts have been clear: these plans actually limit the ability to build new affordable rental housing and jeopardize the affordable housing that exists. [9,10] Greenbelt land isn’t needed to address the problem of housing affordability – in fact, we recently learned that Ontario has enough land to build 2 million new homes without touching it. [11,12]

The Auditor General’s report reveals that these changes were made without proper consultation, and gave “preferential treatment” to Ford’s developer friends. [13] As the climate crisis worsens, destroying land that provides flood protection, carbon sequestration, and local food makes no sense. It’s obvious that the only motivation for the land swap was profit – profit for a few wealthy developers, some of whom also happen to be Ford donors. [14]

It is unacceptable for our elected representatives to stand by and watch this happen. Conservative MPPs must speak out against developing the Greenbelt. Will you take a few minutes to send a message to your MPP?

https://act.leadnow.ca/mpps-greenbelt

With determination,
Rivka and Maggie, on behalf of Leadnow

Sources:
[1] https://thenarwhal.ca/ontario-greenbelt-auditor-general-report
[2] https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-auditor-general-greenbelt-report-1.6930390
[3] https://ontarionature.org/bill-23-what-you-need-to-know-blog
[4] https://globalnews.ca/news/9806793/ontario-ford-government-greenbelt-changes-at-risk-species
[5] https://thenarwhal.ca/ontario-greenbelt-plan-ford-housing
[6] https://globalnews.ca/news/9694836/ontario-greenbelt-promise-timeline
[7] https://thenarwhal.ca/ontario-duffins-rouge-greenbelt
[8] https://www.nationalobserver.com/2022/11/10/opinion/sacrificing-ontario-scarce-green-space-sprawl-giant-mistake
[9] https://acorncanada.org/take_action/doug-fords-bill-23-destroys-existing-affordable-housing-builds-more-luxury-condos-scrap-it-now
[10] https://uwaterloo.ca/news/media/q-and-experts-more-homes-built-faster-act-or-bill-23
[11] https://files.ontario.ca/mmah-housing-affordability-task-force-report-en-2022-02-07-v2.pdf
[12] https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/ontario-has-enough-land-for-2m-homes-without-the-greenbelt-report-finds-1.6294730
[13] See [1]
[14] https://thenarwhal.ca/ford-ontario-greenbelt-cuts-developers