The Ontario Government remains committed to building more homes across the state, while acknowledging the recommendations made by the Ontario Auditor General regarding use of land on the Greenbelt area, Premier Doug Ford and Housing Minister Steve Clark told reporters at a press briefing on Friday.
In an audit report released on Wednesday, Ontario Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk indicted the Ford government for favouring developers in choosing the sites for housing projects on the greenbelt area, determining 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.
Ford and Clark, however, have maintained that they were unaware of the proceedings. “There is a difference between asking for information and influencing government policy,” Clark said at the press briefing.
“We acknowledge the auditor general’s report on asking for information… I am not exactly aware of the bill talked about in the auditor general’s report, but we remain committed to cooperating with her.” He added.
The Ontario Government’s proposal in November last year to remove approximately 74,00 acres across the Greenbelt, a protected area of farmland, forest and wetland, was contrary to earlier efforts to safeguard it. Auditor General Lysyk has determined that opening the Greenbelt was unnecessary to meet the government’s housing goal.
According to Lysyk’s report, Housing Minister Steve Clark’s chief of staff identified 21 of the 22 sites through a small team considered, ultimately settling on 15 sites. The audit report also found that 12 of the 15 parcels of land chosen for removal from the Greenbelt came from specific requests from developers or their representatives.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford (left) with Housing Minister Steve Clark (right)
Clark said that his chief and him continue to work together on the auditor general’s recommendations. Premier ford maintained that the housing minister’s chief of staff won’t be a “fall guy” for the blame, and the government will have the integrity minister investigate the process and take his advice on it.
Denying that any preferential treatment was given to the developers while choosing housing sites, Premier Ford said that the landowners would develop 150,000 homes, with 50,000 of those houses being affordable, and “bring billions of dollars in infrastructure.”
When asked why the government did not follow expert advice that suggested the Greenbelt area was not required to meet the government’s goal of building homes, Premier Ford maintained that the advice was outdated. “19 months ago… they said that, since than more than 500,000 people have arrived… we did not expect that. We choose to continue building homes.”
In a list of 15 recommendations, the audit report suggested re-evaluating the 2022 decision to change Greenbelt boundaries, in addition to clarifying the roles of chiefs of staff versus deputy ministers. The Ontario Government has said that they would be adhering to 14 out of the 15 recommendations.