As Premier Doug Ford braced for a potentially damaging report from Ontario’s auditor general into the controversial Greenbelt land swap, provincial Tories pumped out a preemptive response.
Social media accounts belonging to the premier, cabinet ministers, Progressive Conservative MPPs and the party shared a video highlighting the government’s efforts to build 1.5 million homes.
PC sources said sharing of the video was “mandatory” and seen as an effort to “go on the offensive”
Auditor general Bonnie Lysyk’s upcoming report into the Greenbelt comes after a six-month value-for-money audit into the government’s dealings and decision-making in the buildup to the controversial decision to permanently remove provincial protections from 15 parcels of land.
The decision, announced in late 2022, led to questions about whether select developers were given advance notice of the government plans, leading to complaints by Ontario’s three main opposition parties to the integrity commissioner and auditor general. Both opened investigations, while complaints to Ontario’s provincial police force do not appear to have led to a formal investigation.
“The people of Ontario need answers to the fact that these Greenbelt land schemes don’t pass the smell test,” said Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner.
The government has repeatedly denied giving any developer insider information before the decision was made public.
On Jan. 11, the Liberal, Green and NDP leaders wrote to Lysyk requesting a value-for-money and environmental audit of the Ford government’s decision — specifically focusing on the Duffins Rouge Agriculture Preserve, which environmental groups call the “crown jewel” of the Greenbelt.
“Much of this land was sold to farmers at far below market rates with the understanding that it would be protected farmland forever,” Schreiner said. “And now land speculators are going to be able to cash in and make billions.”
Opposition leaders said Lysyk was uniquely positioned to investigate the Greenbelt changes because her office is legally authorized to have unrestricted access to government and Crown agency records, and the power the speak to pertinent individuals under oath.
“It is a significant role,” said NDP Leader Marit Stiles. “She has the capacity to demand information and poke around in some of the darker corners that the rest of us can’t.”
Some attempts to get information to inform Lysyk’s report have been public. Earlier in the summer, developer Silvio De Gasperis filed a court application to quash attempts by Lysyk’s office to serve a summons to him and his company TACC.
While the exact details of Lysyk’s probe have been a closely guarded secret, the Ford government was given an advance preview of the report.
Premier Doug Ford said his office was “cooperating” with the auditor general and encouraged anyone who was asked to also participate in her probe.
Ford stressed, however, that there is “nothing to hide.”