Ontario appears to be months behind launching a mandatory review of the Greenbelt, and opposition politicians and environmentalists are asking for a wide-ranging and transparent study of the protected lands to preserve their future.
A mandatory 10-year-review of the Greenbelt Plan, which created the protected zone from development, was to have started earlier this year. As of late March that review had not formally begun, according to documents obtained by CBC News through a freedom of information request.
Civil servants warned new Municipal Affairs Minister Rob Flack that the process should have started on Feb. 28, the day after Ontario elected the Ford government to a third term.
“To date, (the Ministry) has initiated internal policy research and analysis, including developing possible approaches to consultation and Indigenous engagement,” civil servants told the new minister in a March briefing note.
The Greenbelt was created in 2005 to protect farm land and some of the most ecologically sensitive areas of the Golden Horseshoe region. The law provides environmental protection and specifies where development should not occur.
The Greenbelt has been the subject of scandal for the Ford government since 2022, when it announced it would swap 15 pieces of land from the protected area and open them up for development. Reports from the auditor general and integrity commissioner found that the process to select lands was rushed and favoured certain developers.
The property owners with land removed from the Greenbelt stood to see their land value rise by $8.3 billion, the auditor general found in her own Greenbelt investigation.
Ford reversed course after heated public outcry and the RCMP continues to investigate the matter.
Ontario’s 4 major parties say they would not build housing on the Greenbelt
The legislation that created the Greenbelt requires a review every decade. That involves consultations with municipalities within the protected area and members of the public. It also requires the government hear from its own Greenbelt Council, a body of 10 representatives it appoints to meet regularly and provide advice to the minister on land use planning related to the protected area.
But the civil servants say that as of March, the council only had one member and no chairperson. According to the Greenbelt council’s website Monday, the sole remaining appointee’s term expires on June 24.
Seven members of that body, including former Toronto mayor and PC cabinet minister David Crombie, resigned in 2020 in protest over changes the Ford government made to the powers of conservation authorities.
But the civil servants are also clear about the parameters of the review — it’s not meant to shrink the protected zone.
“Amendments shall not have the effect of reducing the total land area of the Greenbelt Plan,” the briefing note says.
Minister Flack’s office did not respond to questions from CBC News on the status of the review or the Greenbelt Council. The briefing note puts the Greenbelt review at the top of a list of early priority decisions for the minister, labelling it a “medium” operational and reputational risk for the government.
Given the political trouble the government has had with the Greenbelt, NDP environment critic Peter Tabuns said he’s not surprised work on the review has been slow to progress.
“The fewer times the word Greenbelt is uttered in public the better for them,” he said. “Having a really minimal review push through quickly would probably be politically the easiest thing for them.”
While the review may seem like a simple formality, it’s needed to help strengthen the protected zone, Tabuns said. He urged the government to consult widely on how to strengthen the law.
“Every 10 years you’ve got to look at it to make sure it’s in good shape,” he said. “To make sure it’s protected in the hope that any future attack will be blunted.”
Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner said he’s concerned the province has nearly reached the halfway point of the year and hasn’t made any meaningful progress on the review.
“I think it is critically important for public confidence that this review take place, that it be rigorous, and it be designed in a way to ask questions about what we can do to strengthen the Greenbelt,” he said.
In light of the scandal, the government should use the review as a way to bolster public confidence in its management of the Greenbelt, Schreiner said.
“I would say to the government, this is an opportunity to help you move forward in terms of the Greenbelt scandal and the public opposition that flowed from that, to say, ‘We learned a lesson, and we’re going to conduct a Greenbelt review, and we’re going to do it in a way that talks about how to strengthen the Greenbelt,'” he said.
The review must be expansive and the government must consult widely, said Tim Gray, the executive director of Environmental Defence. The last study, done a decade ago, took years and was substantive, he said.
How much did public opinion affect Ford’s decision to halt Greenbelt development?
“It is important that we do a check in and upgrade it where necessary, expand it where necessary, and address threats to it where it’s necessary,” Gray said.
Tony Morris, conservation policy and campaigns director at Ontario Nature, said he’s concerned the government will want to perform a quick review that “tinkers at the edges.”
“It’s critical that the process be transparent and it be science-based,” he said. “It must be open to Indigenous communities and all stakeholders to actually be involved and feel like they’re being heard, which means that it has to be a well thought out process with appropriate timelines.”
