NOW Magazine
Why Doug Ford can’t be trusted to protect the Greenbelt
The province s record on the environment has been to run roughshod over protections meant to keep developers in check By Enzo DiMatteo
Photo credit: Greenbelt Foundation
We were expecting big news on Wednesday that the Ontario government is planning to expand the Greenbelt – at least, that’s what the Toronto Star “exclusive” pumped out on Twitter suggested.
But what we got instead was an announcement from minister of municipal affairs Steve Clark that the Ford government will be holding a 60-day public consultation on “how to best expand the Greenbelt.”
This story is Part 2 of a series about the Ford government s use of ministerial zoning orders. Read Part 1 here.
In Pickering, Ont., a cluster of marshes and swamps south of Highway 401 has become an unexpected battleground, pitting job creation against environmental preservation.
The wetland of willow trees, silver maples and cattails, once protected from development by provincial rules, is now slated to become a warehouse attached to a nearby casino development.
Since 2018, Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservative government has used unappealable special orders to allow a host of powerful developers to build in a number of ecologically sensitive areas, bypassing the usual approval process.
Ontario says it is planning to expand the province s Greenbelt by adding a moraine south of Toronto and a series of urban river lands to the protected area.
Ontario plans to expand Greenbelt to include Paris Galt Moraine and GTA river lands
The Ontario government on Wednesday announced it hopes to expand the Greenbelt to include the Paris Galt Moraine and adding, expanding and further protecting urban river valleys.
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