Stiles: New evidence suggests Ford had bigger role in Greenbelt scandal than he told Ontario

QUEEN’S PARK – Marit Stiles, the Leader of the Official Opposition NDP, released the following statement after new documents released today show Ford government staff directed changes to urban boundaries expansions at the request of land speculators:

“Again and again Ford’s government is taking orders from their wealthy land speculator friends and serving up Ontario’s precious agricultural and ecological land up on a silver platter. This government is under criminal investigation by the RCMP for their corrupt Greenbelt Grab – and all roads seem to lead to the Premier’s office.

Mr. Ford’s fingerprints are all over these dirty deals, and he needs to answer for this immediately. And I think most troubling of all – it shows that instead of helping people during the housing crisis, this government was making it worse – fueling rampant land speculation, which drives the cost of housing up and up and up – seemingly just to line the pockets of a select few of their friends.”

QUICK FACTS

• Environmental Defence’s documents offer evidence that Ministers’ offices besides Housing Minister Steve Clark’s, were involved as early as January 2022 (prior to the June 2022 election)
• The documents show that the Housing Minister’s Chief of Staff Ryan Amato directed senior ministry staff to keep quiet about the changes and made clear that maps showing how some of the preferred developer properties had been moved forward needed to be provided to the Premier’s Office