FACT CHECK: The housing crisis is no excuse for a corruption crisis

QUEEN’S PARK – The housing crisis did not, in fact, begin on June 3, 2022, the day after Ford got re-elected. Ontarians have been feeling the impacts of this for years.

Today, Ford tried to claim (minute 31:17) that his PCs didn’t run on the Greenbelt Grab because there wasn’t a housing crisis at the time.

As we all know, this is a flat out lie.

• The Integrity Commissioner report notes many times that staff had discussed Greenbelt removals prior to the election.
• According to the Commissioner’s report, just 27 days after his re-election, Ford gave Minister Clark explicit instructions to start carving up the Greenbelt. Ford appears to claim that as of June 2, there was no crisis at all.
• In fact, Andrew Sidnell, Ford’s former deputy chief of staff, told the Integrity Commissioner that he understood that the housing crisis was a priority this government was just elected to solve -- contradictory to Ford's comments today. 

A housing crisis is no excuse for a corruption crisis.

The Conservatives’ Greenbelt Grab has never been about housing.