Auditor general to release probe on Ontario’s opening up of Greenbelt to development

Ontario’s auditor general is set to release her investigation into the province’s decision to open protected Greenbelt lands up to housing development.

Bonnie Lysyk launched a value-for-money probe in January after a joint request from all three opposition leaders.

Media reports have suggested that some prominent developers who are Progressive Conservative donors bought Greenbelt land in the last few years despite the province’s previous pronouncements it wouldn’t be developed.

One purchase happened as recently as September 2022, according to investigations by the CBC, The Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star and the Narwhal.

Premier Doug Ford and Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Steve Clark have both denied tipping off developers ahead of the public announcement last year that the government would remove land from 15 different areas of the protected Greenbelt while adding land elsewhere so that 50,000 homes can be built.

Ford said last month that the auditor general had exceeded the scope of her mandate by taking on the Greenbelt probe, but insisted his government had nothing to hide.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 9, 2023. 

The Canadian Press