OPP anti-rackets branch reviewing requests to investigate Ford government’s plan to develop Greenbelt

Investigators with the Ontario Provincial Police’s anti-rackets branch have begun making calls as they work to determine whether to open an investigation into the Ford government’s plan to allow development in parts of the Greenbelt.

The provincial government’s plan to open up sections of the Greenbelt — a long-protected swath of farmland, forests and wetlands that curves around Lake Ontario — to housing development has generated significant backlash from the public, many of whom want to see environmental protections kept in place.

Further questions about the financial implications were raised in November by a joint Toronto Star-Narwhal investigation that found that developers had been buying up parts of the Greenbelt. In one case, a prominent Ontario development company paid $80 million for two parcels of land that, at the time, could not be built on — only to see that land proposed for development just weeks later. If construction goes ahead, land values could skyrocket.

The timing of some deals has raised eyebrows over whether developers were tipped off ahead of time — or whether they just made a well-timed bet.

Among the groups that complained — and have now received a call from an investigator — was environmental advocacy group Environmental Defence, which lodged a complaint over what executive director Tim Gray says are concerns that private companies could be making money at the public’s expense.

“There’s no public interest argument for why this is being done,” he said. “But there’s very clearly a private interest benefit occurring here to particular landowners, many of which purchased land since the government has been elected.”

Gray says an investigator told him in December that they’re taking the issue “very seriously.” He said he was told that police have received 13 complaints and are speaking to everyone who sent in detailed letters and beginning to review evidence.

A spokesperson for the Ontario Provincial Police would not confirm that interviews were under way, but said in an emailed statement that the anti-rackets branch “is continuing to review information from complainants to determine if there is any evidence to support an actual investigation.”

The matter has also caught the eye of the provincial integrity commissioner, who said in November they were reviewing the matter after receiving a complaint.

Premier Doug Ford’s office did not respond to the Star’s request for comment, but told Global News that the OPP had not yet contacted the government.

Late last year, both Ford and Housing Minister Steve Clark denied that they gave developers any advance notice of the plan.

The Star/Narwhal team dug into property records and corporate documents and found that at least six developers had bought parcels of land since 2018 that include portions of Greenbelt now set to be removed from the protected area.

In 2018, Ford was recorded privately telling developers that he would open “a big chunk” of the land up for housing should he be elected, calling it “just farmer fields.” But the tape sparked public backlash, prompting Ford to promise he wouldn’t touch the land after all. It’s a pledge he is now going back on.

The plan, officially announced in November, was to remove 7,400 acres from the Greenbelt and add 9,400 elsewhere, though it’s not clear if the new land would have equivalent ecological value.

Ford pitched the plan as a way to ease red-hot housing prices by increasing supply in the Toronto and Hamilton areas, as part of a goal to build 1.5-million homes in the next decade.

That’s an idea that environmentalists such as Gray have pushed back against, arguing that there is sufficient land elsewhere that could be developed, and that keeping what is arguably the province’s biggest natural area is important for food growth and wildlife habitat. Parks Canada has also warned that removing the protected status of some Durham-area land would cause “irreversible damage.”

The Greenbelt is an 800,000-hectare piece of land that stretches from Niagara to Port Hope. It was created in 2005 to preserve farmland and environmentally-sensitive areas, as well as control sprawl. With the exception of some towns that were grandfathered in, most new development has been prohibited in the almost two decades since.

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