It seems redundant to tell you what Ontario premier Doug Ford’s word is worth: nothing. The Ontario Greenbelt is now the happy hunting grounds of his close friends, the developers who befriended him when he was spending some disappointing times at Toronto city hall with his late brother Rob.
And it seems to be no coincidence that one family in the development business and their employees have donated almost $300,000 to the conservative party in Ontario in recent years. I would not like to say that that the money came from the company—because that would be illegal.
But if it oinks like a pig, and smells like a pig, and has four little trotters like a pig, it just might be a pig.
It makes sense though to congratulate the De Gasperis family that seems to have a major interest in TACC Developments that has ended up with what looks like more than 400 acres of the former Greenbelt lands to develop. That would make TACC a very large—and very profitable—development company indeed.
Many of their planned homes are to be built on what is known as the Duffins Rouge Agricultural Reserve, which is considered to be among the most arable land in Ontario. This is the reason it was designated as reserved for farming within the Greenbelt. TACC and their good friend Doug Ford do not seem to understand that the people who live in their homes have to eat too.
What is amusing about this particular parcel of Greenbelt is the belief of the some of the staff of Ontario’s minister of municipal affaires and housing that some ten per cent of the housing will be designated “affordable.” What ‘affordable’ means seems open for debate.
All we know is that seems to be in a part of Pickering well north of any viable public transportation that might get the transit riders to Toronto where the jobs are. It is also in Toronto that the availability of affordable housing seems in very short supply.
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