It won’t go away Doug. The Ontario Greenbelt will live on, long after you are gone. What Ontario’s premier does not recognize is that Ontario’s Greenbelt has its roots in conservative party planning. It got its start with the Niagara Escarpment plan when Bill Davis was premier. It got its second boost under, of all people conservative Mike Harris, when he was premier in 2002, and the Oak Ridges Moraine was protected. Then it was all brought together under the Greenbelt by the McGinty liberals when close to a million acres of good farmland was added to help ensure the province’s ability to grow food for a growing population.
What Doug and his government do not seem to realize is that the Greenbelt is part of the legacy we leave our children and their children. You screw with it at your peril.
One thing is for sure, you do not get away with asking a minister such as Paul Calandra to evaluate the Greenbelt. Where does he get the advice in his urban affairs and housing ministry to help him evaluate the Greenbelt? There is more than a million acres of farmland there,
Doug Ford’s government had already shown its lack of caring for farmland when it tried to get public approval for highway 413. It was not just the paving over the wetlands and farms that were the concern with this unnecessary highway. It was the pressure it would create for development along the highway route to highway 401 from the 400.
You have to admit: Doug Ford has a penchant for appointing ministers to ministries that might not come within their skill set.
Take Caroline Mulroney. This lady was Doug Ford’s first choice for Attorney General of Ontario. The fact that Caroline Mulroney was not licensed to practice law in Ontario might have escaped the premier’s attention.
Ms. Mulroney was quickly replaced by a ward healer from my riding of Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte, Doug Downey. He was given the riding by Doug Ford to help keep Patrick Brown out of provincial politics. Mr. Downey’s major project so far has been to bring back King’s Counsel (KC) designations in Ontario and pass them out to mostly conservative lawyers whom he considers worthy.
-30-
Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry
Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to: