Ford government introduces bill to reverse Greenbelt land swap

The Ford government introduced legislation on Monday that will see parcels of land returned to the protected Greenbelt.

Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Paul Calandra teased the upcoming bill last month and said, in addition to restoring the land removed during the province’s controversial land swap, the legislation will also strengthen protection of the Greenbelt by codifying its boundaries.

This means that any future changes would have to go through the legislature, and could not just be done by regulation.

Premier Doug Ford backtracked on the decision to remove 7,400 acres of land from the protected Greenbelt in September. The government had made the land swap as part of its push to build 1.5 million homes across the province by 2031 but eventually decided to return the 15 parcels of land following almost a year of public outcry.

Calandra has previously said the province will not compensate developers whose lands are returning to the Greenbelt.

The RCMP revealed last week it was formally launching an investigation into the province’s deal. Ford has repeatedly said he is confident nothing criminal took place and has defended his government’s process.

The investigation comes on the heels of Ontario Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk’s report, which found more than 90 per cent of the land removed from the Greenbelt favoured developers with ties to then-housing minister Steve Clark’s chief of staff, Ryan Amato, and the property owners stood to net $8.3 billion as a result of the swap.

Both Clark and Amato resigned in the wake of Lysyk’s report and one in which the province’s integrity commissioner found the housing minister violated ethics rules.

The Auditor General’s office is now launching an investigation into Ministerial Zoning Orders (MZO), which allow the government to overrule local municipalities and push through development – whether they like it or not.

With files from The Canadian Press