The Ford government pushed back at critics over the Greenbelt at Queen’s Park on Tuesday, but before the political debates got going, they had to face a major police blockade of the legislature in downtown Toronto.
The day began with Queen’s Park virtually under siege, behind a blockade of garbage trucks.
Police sealed off the roads out of fear of a vehicle convoy protest.
In the end there was no protest and business got back to usual, with the government resisting opposition pressure over the Greenbelt.
“Yesterday the premier and the house leader seemed to think they could just brush off any questions related to the greenbelt grab,” NDP Leader Marit Stiles said.
“The integrity commissioner cleared myself, cleared my office. The auditor general cleared myself and cleared my office. It is our intent to build homes,” Premier Doug Ford said.
But the opposition is still demanding to know whether developers got advance notice of the original plans to build on the Greenbelt.
Part of the focus at Queen’s Park was the Greenbelt land on Book Road in Ancaster.
The NDP says two developers bought into it last year.
Environment Hamilton says it’s not sure the government can be trusted when it says the Greenbelt will now be protected.
“Until I see further legislation that strengthens it, then I’m still going to be skeptical,” Ian Borsuk from Environment Hamilton said.
And they say there’s still a battle to be fought over the province’s decision to force Hamilton to expand its urban boundary into farmland.
“Developers and land speculators that bought up that land are now going to be developing it. We’re seeing urban planning rules get upended constantly and what’s happening right now needs to be pushed back against,” Borsuk said.
On Louis Butko’s CHCH Newsmakers podcast, political analyst Keith Leslie says the government is going to be sticking to its hardline that development beats everything else.
“How does the Ford government move on from this? They would want nothing more than to put Greenbelt Greenbelt Greenbelt behind them. What’s that going to look like?” Butko asked.
“I think it’s going to look just like what we saw in the legislature this week. No matter what question gets thrown at them, who tipped off who, what, when, we built houses, we built long term care homes,” Leslie said.
