Doug Ford blocks bill intended to protect Greenbelt as scandal continues

As legislature resumed on Monday after a summer break, members of government and the public wondered if Premier Doug Ford and his team would follow through with their promise to reverse their decision to convert part of Ontario's Greenbelt into housing.

New Housing Minister Paul Calandra — replacing Steve Clark, who stepped down after breaching the Integrity Act by not following proper process in selecting the land parcels and which developers would purchase them — stated that the belt will be protected moving forward with new legislation that will include explicit geographic boundaries.

It will also apply to some 3,800 hectares of property that the government was planning to throw in to compensate for handing nearly as much to big developers.

But, the move to save face after a level of pushback and probing that was somehow unanticipated by Ford's team is not enough for some, especially the official opposition, who proposed a new Greenbelt Restoration Act that was shot down by the Conservatives today.

For most of us, we have moved on from this. The Greenbelt scandal was a tempest in a teapot. No money changed hands, time to move on. The amount of land involved was small % of the Greenbelt. The Ford government certainly handled the whole process poorly.

— Robert Raponi (@travellingvatty) September 25, 2023

"People don't trust this government to fix a mess of their own creation. Who knows how many loopholes they will sneak into any legislation they table," NDP Leader Marit Stiles said in a press release.

"This [act] would be a step in the right direction, allowing our province to move on and ensure protection for the Greenbelt lands removed by Ford’s $8.3 billion cash-for-access corruption scheme, but the Ford Conservatives are not interested in getting it done."

At Queen's Park today, Stiles also inquired about Ford's "personal involvement" in the scandal directly, to which Ford said that he admitted he made a mistake and is standing by what he most recently promised constituents.

Why do PCs want to introduce their own bill to reverse Greenbelt changes when you have a perfectly good bill ready now? What are they up to? How do they want to introduce wiggle room to renege again? We don’t trust them.

— Kathy Kells (@xkeya) September 25, 2023

"I was very clear in my message on Thursday to the people of Ontario. That's what you call leadership, admitting if there was a mistake, moving forward and making sure we go on with our agenda," the premier said.

"That is not going to deter us from building 1.5 million homes... 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."

Unfortunately, many currently living in the province would very much beg to differ.