Only one of the parcels of land that the Ford government removed from the Greenbelt in 2022 was recommended for removal by provincial bureaucrats: about 15 hectares at the centre of this property, owned by Minotar Holdings Inc.
New legislation tabled by Premier Doug Ford's government to return land to Ontario's Greenbelt also seeks to shut down a developer's $120-million lawsuit that began before the Progressive Conservatives took office.
A lawyer for the company says the Minotar property is being unjustly lumped together with the 14 other parcels, all of which were picked for removal from the Greenbelt by a senior political staffer in Ford's government. The reports slammed the government for giving preferential treatment to well-connected developers. The auditor estimated the moves boosted the value of the selected land by some $8.3 billion, and bothdescribes the Minotar property as "entirely unique" among the parcels selected for removal from the Greenbelt, and says ministry staff "had been very familiar" with it because of the ongoing lawsuit.
"The practice of trying to unwind good-faith agreements for political reasons is a problematic one, and that's what the government is doing with the Minotar lands," he said. Legal experts say the government is going to great lengths in its new legislation to shield itself from lawsuits over its Greenbelt flip-flop."It's really designed to essentially insulate all those involved in this government's change in direction," said Farrow in an interview. "It not only applies going forward, it applies going backwards and that's the unusual thing about this.
Cherie Metcalf, associate dean of research in the faculty of law at Queen's University, takes a similar position. She says the provisions in the bill that would prevent anyone from launching lawsuits related to the Greenbelt reversal are "really quite broad." Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Paul Calandra denies that the bill goes too far in shielding the government from lawsuits. He says the Ford government followed the liability protections that the then-Liberal government put into the original Greenbelt Act when it was created in 2005. The lawsuit, filed in July 2017, claimed that 24 hectares of "valuable developable land" was "wrongfully and erroneously included in the Greenbelt Area.
Canada Latest News, Canada Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford asks Bank of Canada, Prime Minister to pause interest rate increasesFor the second time in as many months, Ontario Premier Doug Ford is calling on the Bank of Canada to pause any further interest rate increases, saying millions of Canadians are 'struggling to make ends meet.'
Read more »
Two Ontario municipalities ask province to compensate them for Greenbelt workTwo Ontario municipalities are asking the provincial government to reimburse them for more than $400,000 in costs they incurred while working on the now-reversed Greenbelt land removals in their communities.
Read more »
Two Ontario municipalities ask province to compensate them for Greenbelt workTORONTO — Two Ontario municipalities are asking the provincial government to reimburse them for more than $400,000 in costs they incurred while working on the now-reversed Greenbelt land removals in their communities.
Read more »
Two Ontario municipalities ask province to compensate them for Greenbelt workTORONTO — Two Ontario municipalities are asking the provincial government to reimburse them for more than $400,000 in costs they incurred while working on the now-reversed Greenbelt land removals in their communities.
Read more »
Greenbelt Ontario: Two municipalities want compensation for development workTwo Ontario municipalities are asking the provincial government to reimburse them for more than $400,000 in costs they incurred while working on the now-reversed Greenbelt land removals in their communities.
Read more »
Two Ontario municipalities ask province to compensate them for Greenbelt workPickering and Grimsby, Ont., say they spent a lot of money and staff time working on Greenbelt plans
Read more »