Hamilton mayor calls on Ford to abandon Greenbelt development plans
CBC
Hamilton's mayor is calling on Ontario Premier Doug Ford to abandon his plan to open up parts of the Greenbelt for development after the province's auditor general found a small group of well-connected developers influenced the plan.
The Ford government removed approximately 2,995 hectares of land from the Greenbelt in December, while adding land elsewhere, to build 50,000 homes.
The Greenbelt is a vast 810,000-hectare area of farmland, forest and wetland stretching from Niagara Falls to Peterborough that was meant to be off limits to development.
You can read the full auditor general's report at the bottom of this story.
The move to do away with environmental protections for some parcels of the land were met with criticism from the public, advocacy groups and Hamilton councillors.
The auditor general's scathing report, released Wednesday, noted how the removal of Greenbelt lands in Hamilton weren't needed to meet current housing targets and would be "challenging" to service in the future.
The parcels of land in Hamilton include:
There are also two parcels near the Hamilton-Niagara border including:
"The proposed development of the Greenbelt is an unnecessary, ineffective, and misguided measure that will not contribute to meeting Hamilton's housing needs," Hamilton Mayor Andrea Horwath said in a media release later on Wednesday.
"There is no doubt that the Greenbelt should be protected as a vital element of our environmental and agricultural resources."
Horwath also said she'll work with city councillors and staff to review the auditor general's report and its implications for the city's "continued advocacy against this provincial approach."
At a news conference on Wednesday, Ford acknowledged shortcomings with the land selection process, but said the government would continue to do everything it can to address the province's housing crisis.
Ford said his government would accept and implement 14 of the 15 total recommendations Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk made in her report.
The recommendation it will not accept is to revisit the land swaps and possibly reverse the decisions, he said.
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