Parts of the Greenbelt, a vast 810,000-hectare area of farmland, forest and wetland from Niagara Falls to Peterborough were opened to development in a bid to get more housing built late last year.
Following the report by Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk that found "the process was biased in favour of certain developers and landowners," Premier Doug Ford said his government would accept and implement 14 of 15 total recommendations.
Ontario's integrity commissioner, who has the power to recommend disciplinary measures on public servants, is considering a request to investigate if the housing minister's chief of staff, Ryan Amato, broke any ethics rules connected to the province's choice of Greenbelt land to open for development.
Environmental Defence, part of the Alliance for a Liveable Ontario, a coalition of advocacy groups, is working with municipalities that have spoken against the Greenbelt changes, such as Hamilton, to "not cooperate in any way," according to Gray.
At a new conference on Thursday, Minister of Environment and Climate Change Steven Guilbeault said staff will be looking at the auditor general's report and any elements that touch on the federal government's environmental impact assessment study on development happening around the park.
Franz Hartmann, the co-ordinator for the Alliance for a Liveable Ontario, says it's up to residents to contact their MPPs, push them to recall legislature early and return the lands that were removed as police investigate.
I hate that every article says they opened the greenbelt up to "solve housing". Its clear it was opened up for doug's developer buddies to build luxury housing. If we actually wanted to solve housing we would allow denser developments closer to existing density and transit, we would change parking minimum requirements and zoning laws, instead we'll cut down forests and farmlands to build houses that barely anyone living here can afford.