One year ago today, on 29 November 2023, the developer Michael Rice was making a last-ditch effort to persuade the Ford Government to permit development on the protected Greenbelt lands at Bathurst in King which he purchased on 15 September 2022 for $80M. (Photo Right)

At the time the Government was reversing its catastrophic decision to permit development on parts of the protected Greenbelt – including the huge 2.7 sq km tract of land at Bathurst. In November 2022 Rice said he wanted to give Southlake some of his newly acquired land for a new hospital.

Ontario’s then Auditor General, Bonnie Lysyk, said the owners of the lands removed from the Greenbelt, which included the Rice lands at Bathurst, could have seen an $8.3B increase in the value of their properties.

Michael Rice declined to meet Lysyk but she didn’t pursue the matter. She thought it would make no material difference to the report she was about to publish. It was scathing and condemnatory.

Southlake still searching for a second site

Now Southlake Health is making renewed efforts to find a site for its proposed acute hospital. 

The Greenbelt scandal has been hugely damaging to Southlake, putting back by years its quest for a suitable second site. 

Rice offers 51 acres

A letter from Rice’s lawyers to Paul Calandra dated 29 November 2023 (photo right) says if the lands are returned to the Greenbelt the development:

“as currently proposed would be largely impossible”.

Rice’s pitch for his new, reworked development would include 51 acres of land for a new Southlake. The hospital did not feature in the earlier plans which Rice handed over to Steve Clark’s Chief of Staff, Ryan Amato, on 28 or 29 September 2022. There is also no mention of a Long-Term Care facility which featured in discussions at Southlake in early 2023.

21,000 people 

The proposed development – home to an estimated 21,000 people but probably closer to 30,000 - would have had a massive impact on Newmarket and also on King, a largely rural municipality. Rice was proposing 9,000 residential units consisting of a mixture of singles/semis and townhouses in a medium density development together with “affordable” apartment units and secondary units. There would be a fire station and land for three elementary schools as well as commercial and retail – all in what was the Protected Greenbelt.

Rice’s lawyer tells Calandra:

“I note that the process that was undertaken leading up to the removal of the subject lands (ie the Bathurst lands in the Protected Greenbelt) was thoroughly investigated by the Integrity Commissioner in his report dated 30 August 2023 which cleared my client of any wrongdoing. In particular, the allegations that my client was “tipped off” about the removal of the lands from the Greenbelt Plan Area in advance of their purchase was found to not have been borne out by the evidence. My client is, in short, not part of the problem and returning the lands to the Greenbelt Plan Area and revoking the “settlement Area” designation in the Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Plan Area is not necessary or justified.”

Mistaken 

The Integrity Commissioner, David Wake, a highly respected former Associate Chief Justice of the Ontario Court of Justice, was told by King’s Mayor Pellegrini and by Rice himself that a hospital could be built in the protected greenbelt. Rice said he was going ahead because he believed he would be able to locate ancillary medical buildings and a long-term care facility alongside. 

The Integrity Commissioner – a jurist not a planner - did not challenge this view which was then - and is now - clearly mistaken.

Ford had earlier offered a humiliating apology for his Greenbelt "mistake" and Rice’s pleas went nowhere.

The Greenbelt Statute Law Amendment Act 2023:

“resets decisions made by the government at the end of 2022 by proposing to restore all of the properties that were redesignated or removed from the greenbelt.”

"Not supported by the people of Ontario"

Paul Calandra who took over the Housing and Municipal Affairs portfolio from Steve Clark defended the volte face, brazenly declaring:

“We made a public policy decision that was not supported by the people of Ontario.”

I laughed out loud.

More accurately, the voters at the last Provincial election in June 2022 were never told about Ford’s plans to open-up the Greenbelt to development.

Solemn vow

On the contrary, Steve Clark, vowed to protect the Greenbelt. In February 2021 he said this:

“I want to be clear: We will not in any way entertain any proposals that will move lands in the Greenbelt, or open the Greenbelt lands to any kind of development.”

The Integrity Commissioner recommended the Legislature reprimand Clark. Astonishingly, that hasn’t happened. The Ford Government refuses to bring the motion forward for debate and a vote. 

Ironically Steve Clark was brought back into the Government by Ford and is now the House Leader, responsible for scheduling Government business on the floor of the House.

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.