The Greenbelt and Doug Ford: What's next?

Ontario Premier Doug Ford's government faced a scathing report by the province's auditor generalWednesday that found its controversial decision to open parts of the protected Greenbelt to housing development was influenced by a small group of well-connected developers.

You can read a full breakdown of the auditor's 95-page report and the reaction to ithere.

One of the main takeaways: 92 per cent of the land that was ultimately removed from the Greenbelt in 2022 was identified by developers who stand to make billions of dollarsfrom the changes, according to the report. That information was passed to Housing Minister Steve Clark's chief of staff, who was heading up the Greenbelt project for the government, the auditor general found.

The big question nowis what happens next, both politically and environmentally.

WhatFord is saying

For Ford, it's full steam ahead.

Ford told reporters Ontario is facing a housing crisis and that what transpired was a result of the government making mistakes while trying to more quickly bolster the supply of new housing. The entire process of selecting sites to be removed from the Greenbelt took only three weeks, and both Ford and Clarksaid they were unaware of how and why specific land was chosen.

"The process should have been better and I'm admitting the process should have been better," Ford said. "But when you're in a housing crisis, when you have an inferno happening, firefighters run to the fire, they don't run away from it. And in my position, I have to deal with a crisis."

Ford said his government would accept and implement 14 of the 15 total recommendations that Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk made in her report.

What it won't commit to: Lysyk's recommendation to revisit the land swaps and possibly reverse the decisions, despite both Ford and Clark conceding the government failed to do due diligence in selecting the sites.

Ford said that reversing the decisions would only delay the chances for thousands of Ontario families to own a home.

"Our government is choosing to build."

Ford did say significant progress on planning has to be shown by 2023 and construction must be underway by 2025or the space will be returned to the Greenbelt.

Will the auditor'sreport change things?

Lysyk said if the decision to open the lands isn't revisited,the public should assume that the government is OK with what happened even though the process involved little input from subject matter experts.

"At the end of the day, if the minister and the premier say they didn't know what the process was, then the next step is to revisit the decision," Lysyk said.

"I don't know if it's too late to make a different decision," she told reporters, before adding: "There have been other decisions that have been reversed."

The government's next actions, she later suggested, will speak louder than their words.

Is any of this criminal in nature?

The auditor said this is outside of her purview. "Whatever happens in the future will be up to the OPP to decide."

Similarly, Lysyk said it's not up to her whether or not there should be a full public inquiry.

WATCH |How Ford's political opponents responded to the report:

How Doug Fords political opponents responded to the auditor generals Greenbelt report

1 year ago

Duration 1:06

Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles, Interim Ontario Liberal Leader John Fraser and Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner respond to Wednesdays scathing auditor generals report.

What Ford's opponents are saying

All three political parties vowed following the report's release to keep up the pressure on the government, even though the next election isn't expected until 2026.

Here's what each said they want to see happen:

NDP: Ontario NDP leader Marit Stiles is calling for three immediate actions: For the premier to recall the legislature, to reverse course and return the lands to the Greenbelt.

Secondly, she's calling for Housing Minister SteveClarkto resign or be removed from cabinet.

Stiles said she'salso asking thatthe Conservative government not stand in the way of any furtherinvestigation, "including any criminal investigations arising, because we know this is just the beginning and the public deserves to know everything," she said.

Liberals:John Fraser, the interim leaderof the Ontario Liberals, said the premier shouldask Clarkto step aside.

"Next, the development in the Greenbelt and those lands in question should be frozen right now," he said.

Fraser is also calling on the premier to be transparent about what his intentions really are around protecting the Greenbelt.

Greens: Party leaderMikeSchreineris also calling for Clarkto "do the right thing" and resign.

"The government has more to be accountable for," Schreiner said.

"I'm calling on the premier to back down now. The public opposition to these Greenbelt land schemes is only going to grow," he said.

Schreineradded that he's concerned there will be additional land swaps in the future.

What some experts and advocates have to say

Shoshanna Saxe,associate professorin theUniversityofToronto'sDepartment of Civil andMineral EngineeringandCanada Research Chair for Sustainable Infrastructure, says the report is "a lot more damning than I expected."

"I knew the policy was bad but I am surprised how bad the process was," she said. Saxe adds that it would be very challenging to initiate construction on the Greenbelt lands that are slated for housing.

"These sites were never supposed to be developed, which means they're not serviced, they don't have connections to water or sewers, they don't have connections to roads, it will take years for that to be ready and itwas never supposed to happen."

Tim Gray, executive director of theadvocacy group Environmental Defence, is calling for the land to be returned to the Greenbeltand for legislation to be introduced to protect it from "future attacks."

"The Ontario government is on the wrong side of the views of almost all Ontarians, except for its developer friends. It needs to stop pushing forward senseless environmental destruction and focus on getting homes built where they are needed, and at prices people can afford," the statement said.

Gray is calling for a full investigation of the relationship between the provincial government and development industry by the OPP, and for "the Ontario government's pro-sprawl agenda" tobe reversed.

"Homes should be built in existing towns and cities, not on farmland, forests and the Greenbelt," Gray said.

The group's calls to action also includeexpanding the Greenbelt to protect more of Southern Ontario's farmland.