NDP ask Ontario auditor to probe urban land expansions in wake of Greenbelt report | Globalnews.ca

TORONTO — Ontario New Democrats are asking the auditor general’s office to investigate the province’s expansion of some municipal boundaries.

The NDP says in a letter today to the acting auditor general — Bonnie Lysyk’s term expired and the province has not yet named a new auditor general — that its request follows the office’s “explosive” Greenbelt report that found the process to select lands for removal from the protected area favoured certain developers.

Premier Doug Ford ultimately reversed his Greenbelt plan after that report and another one from the integrity commissioner made similar findings.

The NDP says there is evidence that preferential treatment was given in the urban boundary expansions to some of the same developers that stood to benefit from the Greenbelt land removals.

CBC has reported that in Hamilton, land added to the city’s urban boundary for growth contains properties owned in part by two developers with lands in the Greenbelt parcels in question.

The NDP is asking the office to conduct a value-for-money audit and assess the financial and environmental impacts of urban boundary expansions and Ministerial Zoning Orders, which override local zoning bylaws.