Who are the GTA developers set to benefit from Ford government's Greenbelt land swap?
CBC
Several well-established developers are among the owners of the 15 parcels of land the Ford government is proposing to open up for housing in the protected Greenbelt in the Greater Toronto Area, a CBC Toronto analysis of dozens of land registry and corporate records has found.
The Ontario government announced a 30-day consultation last week on removing 2,832 hectares across 10 municipalities from the Greenbelt, which was created in 2005 to permanently protect agricultural and environmentally sensitive lands in the Greater Golden Horseshoe area from development.
Corporations run by the DeGasperis family, longtime builders based in Vaughan, Ont. north of Toronto, who founded Tacc Developments and Tacc Construction, own 20 properties in three locations within the Greenbelt the government is proposing to open up.
The list of landowners also includes a company run by Michael Rice, president and CEO of Rice Group, and one run by Shakir Rehmatullah, president of Flato Developments.
The province said last Friday the move will facilitate the building of at least 50,000 homes and that the plan is to add more land elsewhere to the Greenbelt than is being taken out. The lands considered for removal were chosen because they have the potential for homes to be built in the near future and because they are adjacent to existing urban areas, the government of Premier Doug Ford said.
Here's what CBC News learned about some of the largest landowners who stand to benefit from the so-called Greenbelt land swap.
The biggest parcel of land the province is proposing to open for development involves Duffins Rouge Agricultural Preserve, along Pickering's eastern town line, covering land from Highway 407 in the north, nearly all the way to Finch Avenue in the south.
Four companies controlled by members of the DeGasperis family own 16 of about 60 properties within it. The 16 lots were bought for more than $9 million and all but one of the properties were purchased before the Greenbelt was created in 2005.
In total, the DeGasperis-controlled properties cover 506 hectares of this part of the Greenbelt. Other landowners within the Pickering parcel include farming companies, a golf club and the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority.
A company run by the DeGasperis family also owns one of two tracts of land that intersect with the section of Greenbelt land potentially being taken out in Vaughan north of Teston Road and east of Pine Valley Drive.
Tacc Developments (Block 41) Inc. purchased one for $50 million in May 2021. The 43-hectare property includes a mixture of Greenbelt and non-Greenbelt land, the latter of which makes up the larger portions.
Corporate records list Silvio DeGasperis, Michael DeGasperis and Carlo DeGasperis as officers of Tacc Developments (Block 41) Inc.
Tacc Developments is currently building a subdivision of low- and mid-rise housing along with other developers in the area on Block 41, one of Vaughan's last remaining greenfield areas located on 428 hectares of land bounded by Kirby Road to the north, Weston Road to the east, Teston Road to the south, and Pine Valley Drive to the west.
Another company linked to the DeGasperis family, Leslie Elgin Developments Inc., owns three parcels of land that contain Greenbelt land being considered for removal in Richmond Hill.
P.E.I.'s Public Schools Branch is looking for 50 substitute bus drivers, and it'll be recruiting at three job fairs on Saturday, June 8. The job fairs are located at the Atlantic Superstore in Montague, Royalty Crossing in Charlottetown, and the bus parking lot of Three Oaks Senior High in Summerside. All three run from 9 a.m. until noon. Dave Gillis, the director of transportation and risk management for the Public Schools Branch, said the number of substitute drivers they're hiring isn't unusual. "We are always looking for more. Our drivers tend to have an older demographic," he said.