Does the Developer or its lobbyist work through the MPP?
Does the Developer e-mail the Housing Minister directly?
We need to know the answer to these questions before we next meet with our MPP:
to ask if Queenscorp has applied for a MZO respecting 4099 Erin Mills Parkway.
to ask our MPP to exclude the possibility of a MZO in our community being imposed without public consultation, and
to ask if the process will now be different.
Resources:
Ecojustice Press Release: Ontario government political staff directed changes to Municipal Official Plans to favour the interests of select landowners
CBC story: Documents show Ford's office, partisan staff involved in municipal boundary move: advocates
"Opposition parties say documents echo government's handling of Greenbelt land swaps"
"Advocacy groups Environmental Defence and Ecojustice released more than 7,000 pages obtained through freedom of information requests on Monday, detailing how the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing chose to go forward with controversial municipal boundary expansions, official plan policies on how city land should be used and Greenbelt-related changes last year.
CBC Toronto has seen the documents as have the opposition parties.
The groups say based on the documents, the government forced cities such as Hamilton and Ottawa to sprawl against their wishes, making rural land owned by some developers potentially more valuable. That, they say, had a similar effect to when the province opened up areas of the Greenbelt for home development, boosting the collective value of some private properties by an estimated $8.3 billion, according to the auditor general."
CBC story: Developer guests at Doug Ford family wedding got fast-track zoning approvals from government
"But now, after investigations by Ontario's integrity commissioner and auditor general found the government improperly furthered the private interests of certain developers by approving their Greenbelt properties for housing, there are questions about whether the government's use of MZOs bears any similarities."
""We see lots of evidence that the government should be very, very worried about the process for handing out MZOs, what they're being used for, and who's benefiting from them," said Jeff Burch, the NDP's critic for municipal affairs.
"There are Conservative insiders who are benefiting from MZOs just as they have benefited from insider information around the Greenbelt grab," Burch said in an interview. "
"Green Party leader Mike Schreiner is calling for a careful review "to make sure that the same corrupt process that led to [the government] removing land from the Greenbelt hasn't been involved in any of these MZOs."
"I think the people of Ontario deserve an honest answer around that question," Schreiner said in an interview."
"Premier Doug Ford's government copied, word for word, a developer's requested changes to Hamilton's official plan to allow an eight-storey condo at the current site of a designated heritage building — blindsiding city planning staff, elected officials and residents.
The application for the condo building had been rejected by city staff and council in the spring of 2022.
The request was emailed to then-Housing Minister Steve Clark by planner Matt Johnston on behalf of developers Sergio Manchia and Frank Spallacci on Oct. 4, 2022, one month before the province announced these amendments and dozens of others to Hamilton's official plan."
Ontario NDP web site: NDP: Auditor General confirms investigation into Conservatives’ questionable use of MZOs