Doug Ford says he would open up Greenbelt to development

petros

petros

The Central Scrutinizer
Nov 21, 2008
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mentalfloss

mentalfloss

Prickly Curmudgeon Smiter
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The Greenbelt takes a chunk out of Doug Ford

When Doug Ford boasted to attendees at this Markham event that his plan was the idea of “the biggest developers in the country,” it’s worth asking whether Ford is as deeply naive and ignorant of the region as he appears to be or whether he and his party’s judgement was compromised by the significant support that the Progressive Conservatives (PC) have received from land developers. Note, nine out of the twelve of the party’s largest corporate donors from 2016 have a vested interest in construction: real estate developers, residential home builders, contractor and rental home provider associations, residential real estate investment firms, construction labour unions, structural steel and excavation tool manufacturers. The Liberal government banned corporate and union donations in January 2017, but that didn’t stop the Ontario PCs from raking in a whopping 12.6M in the run up to the January 01 deadline. Ford’s ‘secret’ announcement to a crowd in Markham regarding the Greenbelt seems more likely to be a product of corporate political influence than a mere ‘oopsy’ moment.

In hiding his intentions to Ontarians, Doug Ford helped to make the case against him for premier. For instance, he visited Dufferin-Caledon three times this past month and while I doubt it wasn’t for the toasted westerns, it also certainly wasn’t to tell voters there that he intended to dismantle parts of the Greenbelt. Some have likened this to the time Doug Ford parroted the interests of developers in his outlandish city proposal to seize the development of the Toronto Port Lands and build a monorail, the world’s largest Ferris wheel, a new stadium, an island hotel, and a giant robotic mongoose (I may have made up the last one.) Ford as a Toronto city councillor was also later found to have contravened the Code of Conduct for wrongfully accepting gifts and lobbying for his clients. It’s hard to square Ford’s image as a ‘man of the people’ or a fiscal conservative with these incidents – not when he’s mouthing the daydreams of real estate developers.

https://theribbon.net/2018/05/05/th...t-of-doug-ford/amp/?__twitter_impression=true
 
taxslave

taxslave

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Nov 25, 2008
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Hoid said:
Oops should have been a greenie.

Conservative governments have been economic fails pretty much every time
Click to expand...

Everytime we have had a conservative government they have been left with empty bank accounts, dismal economic Outlook and huge bills by spendthrift Liberals. About the time things get close to being back on track the populace decides it likes all the freebie especially the generation that isn't born yet will have the honour of paying for.

mentalfloss said:
The Greenbelt takes a chunk out of Doug Ford

When Doug Ford boasted to attendees at this Markham event that his plan was the idea of “the biggest developers in the country,” it’s worth asking whether Ford is as deeply naive and ignorant of the region as he appears to be or whether he and his party’s judgement was compromised by the significant support that the Progressive Conservatives (PC) have received from land developers. Note, nine out of the twelve of the party’s largest corporate donors from 2016 have a vested interest in construction: real estate developers, residential home builders, contractor and rental home provider associations, residential real estate investment firms, construction labour unions, structural steel and excavation tool manufacturers. The Liberal government banned corporate and union donations in January 2017, but that didn’t stop the Ontario PCs from raking in a whopping 12.6M in the run up to the January 01 deadline. Ford’s ‘secret’ announcement to a crowd in Markham regarding the Greenbelt seems more likely to be a product of corporate political influence than a mere ‘oopsy’ moment.

In hiding his intentions to Ontarians, Doug Ford helped to make the case against him for premier. For instance, he visited Dufferin-Caledon three times this past month and while I doubt it wasn’t for the toasted westerns, it also certainly wasn’t to tell voters there that he intended to dismantle parts of the Greenbelt. Some have likened this to the time Doug Ford parroted the interests of developers in his outlandish city proposal to seize the development of the Toronto Port Lands and build a monorail, the world’s largest Ferris wheel, a new stadium, an island hotel, and a giant robotic mongoose (I may have made up the last one.) Ford as a Toronto city councillor was also later found to have contravened the Code of Conduct for wrongfully accepting gifts and lobbying for his clients. It’s hard to square Ford’s image as a ‘man of the people’ or a fiscal conservative with these incidents – not when he’s mouthing the daydreams of real estate developers.

https://theribbon.net/2018/05/05/th...t-of-doug-ford/amp/?__twitter_impression=true
Click to expand...

What do real estate developers provide? Oh right places for people to live. Bad thing because homeless on the street provides more jobs for government social workers.
 
coldstream

coldstream

on dbl secret probation
Oct 19, 2005
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Doug Ford is looking more and more like a NeoConservative. A globalist, corporate, libertarian, regressive thug. A progeny of the Reagan/Thatcher trickle down mob that produced that massive failure Mike Harris. He was outdone in incompetence and corruption only by Kathleen Wynne as premier.

In fact they were two sides of the same coin of economic liberalism, only the Ontario PCs pasted on a pastiche of social conservativism which formed no authentic moral impulse. Mike Harris privatized Highway 407 as a model for privatizing Ontario's transportation assets. Wynne privatized Ontario Hydro, selling off Ontario's public energy infrastructure.

Both were sellouts to Global Investment interests. And Doug Ford looks like he's just another big dumb fart in the control of his puppet masters on Wall Street and Bay Street.

Ontario and Canada need real Conservatives.. nationalist, populist, dirigiste, progressive. not these pathetic dupes and morons like Harris, Wynne and now, it looks like, Ford.
 
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Twin_Moose

Twin_Moose

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Apr 17, 2017
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But the Libs are already invading the Greenbelt

They've lived on their farm for 200 years - now a school board wants a chunk of it

David McCann can tell just from the sound of his cows bawling whether there's a coyote nearby. He can tell just from rolling the earth around between his fingers whether it's planting season — but while his family has lived and worked their 200-acre plot of land in Halton Region for nearly two centuries, a school board looking to build on his land is putting that life at risk.
"This is what we've done all of our lives, this is what we know," McCann said.
With his daughter, son, brother and elderly father all working the farm every day, it's a family affair for the McCanns. But the Halton Catholic School Board has its sights set on nearly 20 acres, enough for about 15,000 high school students — land it says it needs because of growing enrolment that threatens to spill over capacity by about 2020 or 2021.
The stretch of farmland is in a settlement area just outside the Greenbelt, a swath of protected forest and wetland that runs around the Greater Toronto and Hamilton area. Developers own land adjacent to the area, says McCann, and already he's dealing with two other expropriations to widen the nearby road and highway to support a growing residential population.
Curious kids next to '2,000-pound animals'
Milton is one of the fastest-growing towns in the area. And more homes mean more kids.
For McCann, developing without planning for needs like that isn't just illogical, it's unfair — and he questions why a school site wasn't secured in the first place when the residential area was being planned.
"The developers should be responsible for that. It's like your neighbour coming up to you and saying, 'Oh, I put an addition on my house but I don't have room for a garage, so I'm going to stick it on your property. Here's a couple of bucks for you."
McCann's made his stance clear before, saying he told the town as early as 2010 during a development meeting that he had no plans to move.
Besides, he says, putting a school on his land isn't safe.
"You're going to put kids who are curious next to 2,000-pound animals," he says, noting livestock is one of the most common killers and cripplers for those in the farming sector. Add that to the fact that the plot is currently a hayfield, laden with pollen from the wheat field nearby and cattle dander.
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