To no one’s surprise, the Auditor General’s investigation into the sell-off of Ontario’s Greenbelt is an indictment of Doug Ford’s Conservatives, their ties to greedy and ruthless developers, and the utter contempt they hold for basic democratic institutions and protections.
And to no one’s surprise, the Ford government has no credible response to the report’s damning observations: that there was no meaningful consultation with Indigenous communities, no economic, environmental, or agricultural impact assessments, no real housing plan. The report does include, however, plenty of examples of corruption around bidding and removal of Greenbelt sites.
Perhaps most significantly, the report shreds Doug Ford’s claim that the losing part of the Greenbelt is a necessary trade-off for more housing. Just as the Ontario Housing Affordability Task Force concluded in its 2022 report, the Auditor General’s report finds that enough land outside the Greenbelt is already available to build 1.5 million homes.
CUPE Ontario has always maintained that Doug Ford was using the province’s deep need for decent, affordable housing as a pretext for selling off vital sections of Ontario’s Greenbelt to PC supporters, and that this (mis)use was part and parcel of an outright attack on basic democracy. We now have irrefutable proof and specific examples of the corruption and dirty dealing at the heart of Ford government, including the finding that “owners of the 15 land sites removed from the Greenbelt could ultimately see a collective $8.3 billion increase to the value of their properties.”
The greed and corruption exposed by the Auditor General’s report has an impact on every Ontarian, not least on those who are affected by the ongoing housing crisis and who are further than ever from the deeply affordable housing we need.
CUPE Ontario endorses the report’s recommendations and echoes the Ontario NDP’s call for the resignation of Minister Steve Clark. We also urge the Ontario Provincial Police to launch a criminal investigation based on the findings of the Auditor General’s report.
CUPE Ontario, as part of the labour movement, is proud to stand as a countervailing force against the corruption of the Ford government. We will continue to work with allies in labour, community organizations, and the environmental movement to hold Doug Ford and his Conservatives accountable for these egregious transgressions.
