Developers were favored, Auditor General Indicts Ford Government on Greenbelt Project
Project was heavily influenced by well-connected developers, Audit General report says
The Ontario government’s actions to open parts of the protected Greenbelt area for development projects took little expert opinion on the project and failed to consider risks to the province’s environment, agriculture and finances, Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk said in a special report released on Wednesday.
In the 95-page audit report, Lysyk also determined that owners of the 15 land sites removed from the Greenbelt area are eligible to see more than an $8.3 billion increase in the value of their properties, alluding that the decision to open up the land was heavily influenced by a small group of developers in the province.
The Greenbelt, covering about 2 million acres of farmland, forest and wetland, was created in 2005 to protect agricultural and environmentally sensitive lands from urban development.
The Government’s proposal in November last year to remove approximately 74,00 acres across the Greenbelt was contrary to their earlier efforts to protect the area. Still, it argued it was necessary as part of its pledge to build 1.5 million homes in 10 years. However, Auditor General Lysyk has determined that opening the Greenbelt was unnecessary to meet the government’s housing goal.
Rather than a comprehensive assessment of the Greenbelt area, the government’s proposal last year “was substantially controlled and directed by the Housing Minister’s Chief of Staff,” the Audit General’s report said.
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