News from Ontario’s Official Opposition Party and its NDP Leader, Marit Stiles
Posted October 4th, 2023 on Niagara At Large
A Quick Foreword Note from Niagara At Large reporter and publisher Doug Draper – I suspect that at least a few people who visit this news site are wondering why we are posting so much news from the Ontario New Democrats on the Greenbelt scandal. Some may wonder if we are doing so because we are NDP supporters. The answer is no. We are not members or supporters of any political party. It is just that in this case, Ontario’s NDP, to its credit and like no other political party in the province, is relentlessly working, like no other party, to get to the bottom of the Ford government corruption here.
Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles
QUEEN’S PARK — Official Opposition Leader Marit Stiles says an internal government memo from the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing shows the Conservatives knew their unilateral decisions to pave over greenspace and farmland by expanding urban boundaries were wrong but proceeded anyway.
“What we’re seeing is Act II of the Greenbelt corruption crisis,” Stiles said. “This is yet further evidence that this government will stop at nothing to rig the system so long as it helps their close land speculator friends.”
The NDP has obtained an internal government briefing note highlighting “possible contentious issues” concerning the Conservatives’ April 2023 ministerial amendments to municipal official plans in Waterloo, Wellington County, Guelph, Barrie, Belleville and Peterborough.
The document shows the government knowingly overrode recommendations from regional planning staff by adding lands to municipalities’ urban boundaries proposed via “third-party requests,” neglected to consult with impacted First Nations, and forced urban boundary expansions that were at odds with the province’s own planning policies and housing targets.
“Ford’s Conservatives decided to plow ahead regardless,” Stiles said. “They knew what they were doing was wrong. But still, they unilaterally forced municipalities to expand their urban boundaries onto prime farmlands and critical watersheds even though they know it wasn’t rooted in evidence, and that it didn’t involve adequate public consultation.”
A mid-20th Century Neanderthal’s Vision of Ontario’s future, with less than a wit of concern for climate crises or the value of a healthy ecosystem.
“Given the Greenbelt scandal, given the government’s forced sprawl in Hamilton and Ottawa that benefited certain speculators, this begs the question: Which “third part[ies]” were the government catering to?”
Background
Click here (https://mcusercontent.com/353019c4e982ae7eb8ea53150/files/f3e7d159-01d5-62b3-f0b1-7c5c23a7e804/2023.10.04_Backgrounder_on_MMAH_Memo_combined_1_.pdf) to download a copy of the memo and backgrounder.
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