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The Greenbelt 'scandal' keeps on giving.............

This time in a bit of a weird way...........developers and pols/their aides getting concurrent massages in Vegas................ ok then....

toronto.ctvnews.ca

Minister, Premier's aide got massages with Ontario Greenbelt developer in Vegas: hotel employees

Three Wynn Las Vegas hotel employees tell CTV News their records contradict the story an Ontario minister gave the Integrity Commissioner about a chance meeting in a hotel lobby with a developer whose land was removed from the Greenbelt — claiming the pair and a former aide to Premier Doug Ford...
toronto.ctvnews.ca toronto.ctvnews.ca
 
Northern Light said:
The Greenbelt 'scandal' keeps on giving.............

This time in a bit of a weird way...........developers and pols/their aides getting concurrent massages in Vegas................ ok then....

toronto.ctvnews.ca

Minister, Premier's aide got massages with Ontario Greenbelt developer in Vegas: hotel employees

Three Wynn Las Vegas hotel employees tell CTV News their records contradict the story an Ontario minister gave the Integrity Commissioner about a chance meeting in a hotel lobby with a developer whose land was removed from the Greenbelt — claiming the pair and a former aide to Premier Doug Ford...
toronto.ctvnews.ca toronto.ctvnews.ca
Click to expand...
What happens in Vegas doesn't stay in Vegas.
 
christiesplits said:
Wow, was not expecting that.

Is this a way to get ahead of more scandalous details?
Click to expand...

Though I am not sure how trustworthy he is - considering he already said he is not opening the greenbelt once and ditched it once he got his second majority. Besides, fundamentally his buddies will still be looking for a payout.

AoD
 
AlvinofDiaspar said:
He "caved", perhaps Bibi style:

www.cp24.com

'It was a mistake:' Ford reversing government's decision to open Greenbelt

Premier Doug Ford said he will be reversing his government’s decision to open the Greenbelt to developers.
www.cp24.com www.cp24.com

Though really, is it a "mistake", or is it that you get caught? This government is as soiled as a used diaper.

AoD
Click to expand...

Good!

One small step, and all that.

But to be clear, this, at best, puts things back to where they were.

Follow-up is required:

1) Absolutely no compensation to the affected developers for the downzoning; the De Gasperis tract can be sold to the Feds to add to Rouge Park, but the should only be paid what the fair market value is/was while at the lower zoning, in the Greenbelt.

2) The Greenbelt needs to grow. The Paris and Galt Moraines should be added in their entirety, in addition to a good chunk of Dufferin County.

****

Ford gets zero points for saving us all from himself. Still, beats having him follow through.
 
Last edited:
AlvinofDiaspar said:
He "caved", perhaps Bibi style:

www.cp24.com

'It was a mistake:' Ford reversing government's decision to open Greenbelt

Premier Doug Ford said he will be reversing his government’s decision to open the Greenbelt to developers.
www.cp24.com www.cp24.com

Though really, is it a "mistake", or is it that you get caught? This government is as soiled as a used diaper.

AoD
Click to expand...
Glad to hear it. Despite my dabble in devils’ advocacy, this is unmistakably the right path forward. Regardless of if Ford ever admits it was corrupt or not, the public was never going to let this go, and crucially, he realized that. They have reversed what must have been a very lucrative position. In politics such humility is no guarantee.
 
On the bright side, hopefully this means that carving land out of the Greenbelt will be even more politically radioactive than it already was. Perhaps future governments who are tempted to mess with it will look back on this scandal and retreat to safer territory.
 
If they were sincere about "creating housing", and went through a non-sketchy non-self-serving process to open up the greenbelt, I expect it would have happened. People would be pissed about the lost greenbelt land, but the scandal would not exist.

But since this was all about greed, well, here we are.... I hope investigations continue to reveal and cut out the rot.
 
Does this also stop the process Paul Calandra started of 'reevaluating' the Greenbelt? I got the sense that this was narrowly focused on the land swap - not the overall health/sanctity of the Greenbelt.

At any rate:
  1. I'm really shocked Ford did this.
  2. I think he got a earful from his caucus. Plus, the polling was pretty brutal: people of all stripes were convinced that the OPC simply did this for their donors. I'm a little surprised that media didn't play up that $8.2 billion number more, because that's an eyewateringly-large windfall.
  3. In his presser he started off being apologetic, but then pivoted into a weird place of "we did it for the right reasons, it would have been home for 100s of thousands of people, and it's a good place to build". Kinda muddled the message.
  4. I don't trust the government to be good stewards of the Greenbelt and don't trust that we've seen the last of their meddling here. I was never convinced of their environmental creds anyways, but after everything related to the Conservation Authorities, Hwy 413 and the Greenbelt I really don't trust them.
 
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