‘Act 2 of the Greenbelt corruption crisis’ as Ontario municipalities forced to change growth plans: NDP | CBC News

A leaked memo shows the Ontario government made changes to the growth plans of six municipalities knowing it would be controversial and offered ways to combat any bad press about the decisions, the NDP say.

NDP Leader Marit Stiles called the leaked memo “act two of the Greenbelt corruption crisis” because she says it shows the Progressive Conservatives forced urban boundary expansions, often knowing the municipalities would be unhappy with the changes.

Premier Doug Ford and his government have been criticized in recent months for changes it made to the Greenbelt to allow for housing development. After Opposition and public outcry, Ford announced last month his government would re-evaluate the lands as part of a wider review of all Greenbelt lands and development applications.  

The six municipalities mentioned in the memo, released by the NDP this week, are:

• Waterloo region.
• Wellington County.
• Guelph.
• Barrie.
• Belleville.
• Peterborough.

In Waterloo region, the government added 2,380 hectares to the urban area boundary above what the regional council had decided was appropriate in passing its official plan. The region learned on April 11, 2023 that the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, who was then Steve Clark, had made the changes and the region was not permitted to appeal them.

“What the government is doing here is, they’re bulldozing and imposing on the people of [Waterloo] region, a deal that really is counter to the interests of folks in Kitchener-Waterloo,” Stiles told Craig Norris, host of CBC K-W’s The Morning Edition.

“When you look at the Kitchener-Waterloo region, we know how much work went into the local planning process and that people in the region want to see densification, they want to see homes built, they want to see more affordable homes.”

LISTEN | Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles shares concerns over leaked government memo on urban boundary expansions:

Another concern raised in Waterloo region was that some of the lands added by the province came from “third-party requests.” The province has not said who those third-parties are and Stiles says she asked, but was not given that information.

A spokesperson for the Region of Waterloo declined to comment on the leaked memo and what it says about the region and pointed all questions to the province.

Call for review of changes

In Wellington County, the ministry made changes to expand settlement areas before county staff had a chance to complete their own work.

County Warden Andy Lennox told CBC News that now the memo has been leaked, he hopes it will mean the province will be more willing to work with the county, rather than impose the changes.

“Wellington County would be very happy if the urban boundary adjustments assigned by the province were to be reviewed,” Lennox said in an email.

“Council and staff were working through the process to adjust boundaries in an orderly way that ensures cost effective municipal servicing. Particularly in [the townships of] Centre Wellington, Guelph/Eramosa and Minto, we would be very happy [if] some of the province’s adjustments are reviewed and have the possibility for us to offer a revised plan.”

Belleville ‘taken by surprise’ by changes

In Belleville, the ministry:

• Added 160 hectares to the urban boundary of the city.
• The city wanted to change 24 hectares known as the Old Fairgrounds Area to employment land. The province designated it for residential use indeed.
• Made modifications “to support the city’s vision” for the Black Bear Ridge Village ministerial zoning order, noting the changes were “made at the request of the city.”

The memo noted there could be “legal risks” when it came to conforming with the provincial policy statement — which, as the name suggests, offers direction to municipalities when it comes to how to use their land.

Belleville Coun. Paul Carr told CBC News the city was “taken by surprise” when the urban boundary was changed because no one from the province had consulted with city staff or officials.

“Even the city’s comprehensive review … determined that there was adequate land supply within the current urban boundary for the next 20 years. So the official plan that was submitted for approval was in compliance with the provincial policy statement,” Carr said in a statement.

Carr said his fellow council colleagues weren’t aware similar changes were being made to the official plans of other municipalities.

“It is our hope that the [Premier Doug] Ford government reviews these collective decisions to ensure compliance with their own policies and is inline with local background studies,” Carr said.

He added Belleville has been working hard to encourage growth and development and they want to see developers build, but the province will also need to step in to help municipalities reach their housing targets.

“There is significant infrastructure required to expand an urban area and there is not enough in the Building Faster Fund for what the Ford government is suggesting with this unilateral change,” Carr said.

Density targets changed in Barrie

In Barrie, the memo says the province allowed the city to have lower minimum density targets in three areas of the city “that may impact the city’s ability to accommodate the forecasted population to 2051.” The memo also said there could be concerns with changing lands earmarked for employment to residential use.

The changes the province made weren’t a problem for the city, chief administrative officer Michael Prowse told CBC News.

“The Province lowered the densities on a couple of sites, and in some areas changed the phasing. These minor changes to the city’s official pan present no concerns to the city,” Prowse said in an emailed statement.

No secret province wants to build houses: Minister

In four of the six municipalities mentioned in the memo, the province also acknowledged that Indigenous communities were not informed of the changes made by the Minister’s office.

As part of the “key messages” for handling questions about that, the memo said the province “welcome their perspectives and traditional knowledge as part of an ongoing discussion to support Ontario’s sustainable and responsible growth” and the ministry “remains committed” to working with and consulting Indigenous communities.

CBC News reached out to current Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Paul Calandra’s office about the memo to ask what actions the province may take to address the concerns raised by the NDP and some of the municipalities. Calandra’s office did not respond before deadline.

At Queen’s Park in Toronto on Tuesday, Calandra responded to Stiles’ questions about the memo by saying changes made to official plans were done to spur housing development.

“We’re working constantly with our municipal partners. We’ve made it very clear to all of our municipal partners that we intend to build 1.5 million homes across the province of Ontario. We haven’t made that a secret,” Calandra said, also accusing the Opposition of being against the plans, saying the “NDP don’t want to build homes.”

“We’re a province that is growing. Our communities are growing and they want to participate with us. They want to build homes. They want to meet those targets and many of our communities want to exceed the targets,” Calandra said.

Stiles says she wants to see the province help municipalities build housing, but she also wants to see the Progressive Conservatives “stop this silliness.”

“I really believe that government can do better and so I want them to be honest,” she said. “The government and the premier apologized for the Greenbelt grab. They said they’re turning things around but they’re proceeding with stuff like this — they haven’t really changed much.”