Minister breaks silence on mandatory Greenbelt review — but there's no word on who will conduct it or when
CBC
Ontario’s municipal affairs minister says the province will move forward with a much-delayed mandatory review of the Greenbelt, but opposition critics say there's still no word on when the study of the ecologically sensitive zone will take place or who will conduct it.
Rob Flack broke his months-long silence about the review Thursday at Ontario’s legislature.
The study — which must be completed by law every decade and was due to start earlier this year — was delayed by the snap election called by Premier Doug Ford in late January, the minister said.
“I think everyone knows we had a winter election, as of that, we are taking time to get the framework put in place so we can do a proper review,” Flack said. “The Greenbelt is enshrined in legislation for generations to come. I repeat, the Greenbelt is enshrined in legislation for generations to come.”
The Greenbelt, an over 800,000-hectare ecologically sensitive zone around the Greater Golden Horseshoe, was created in 2005 and provides environmental protection and specifies where development should not occur.
The first review a decade ago was a comprehensive consultation and study led by the arms-length advisory Greenbelt council. But the minister gave no indication when the next review would begin or who would head it up for the government.
Environmentalists and opposition critics have been calling on the government to move forward with the review and state definitively that no lands will be removed from the zone.
Documents obtained by CBC News earlier this year showed that as of the spring, progress on the review was months behind schedule. At that time, civil servants warned Flack that the process should have started on Feb. 28, the day after Ontario elected the Ford government to a third term.
"To date, (the Ministry) has initiated internal policy research and analysis, including developing possible approaches to consultation and Indigenous engagement," civil servants told the new minister when he took on the portfolio in a March briefing note.
The Greenbelt has been the subject of scandal for the Ford government since 2022, when it announced it would swap 15 pieces of land from the protected area and open them up for development. Reports from the auditor general and integrity commissioner found that the process to select lands was rushed and favoured certain developers.
The property owners with land removed from the Greenbelt stood to see their land value rise by $8.3 billion, the auditor general found in her own Greenbelt investigation.
On Thursday, Liberal environment critic Mary-Margaret McMahon raised questions about the review during question period, chiding Flack for blaming the delays on the election.
“None of us wanted that ridiculous snap winter election, but here we are,” she said, pressing for specifics on the review.
“Can he tell the good people of Ontario when he will reinstate the Greenbelt Council, how the appointment process will evolve and what their mandate will be?” she said.
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