Details

Today’s report on the Greenbelt from Ontario’s Auditor General, Bonnie Lysyk, is damning. The summary is here and the full report is here. 

I read it from cover to cover and there's more to come out. For example, there’s nothing in the report about Southlake and Michael Rice’s offer of Greenbelt land for a new hospital.

As early as January 2022 Rice was talking to Southlake about accommodating a new hospital on his lands. 

I am left wondering why the police are not involved. We now have clear evidence of insider dealing where the well-connected will make millions, perhaps billions.

The response in the media to these revelations has been universally hostile.

But Ford vows to press ahead regardless. The lands taken out of the Greenbelt are not going back in.

$8.28 billion

The Auditor General tells us how a cosy little coterie of developers knew before the rest of us that certain lands were to be pulled from the Greenbelt and opened-up for development. 

Astonishingly, as a consequence, developers could see an $8.28 billion increase in the value of their land. And that estimate is based on 2016 figures.

We are expected to believe that Doug Ford and the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, Steve Clark, knew nothing. The mastermind was Ryan Amato, Clark’s Chief of Staff. 

Knaves or Fools?

If they knew nothing, they are either knaves or fools. I’d say both.

We learn it was Amato who identified land for removal from the Greenbelt. He then passed the details on to a “Greenbelt Project Team”, sworn to secrecy, who made sure all the boxes were ticked. To be considered for removal the lands had to be adjacent (a) to an existing settlement area and (b) to the edge of the Greenbelt boundary.  And the lands were to be considered out of bounds if they were in a specialty crops area or contained Natural Heritage System lands. (NHS) The developers didn’t like that.

Bathurst contained 34.03% of lands within the NHS so that disqualifying criterion was promptly removed by the Government. Ford was bending over backwards to help his friends.

Priority sites

We learn that while attending the Building Industry and Land Development Association’s (BILD) Chair’s Dinner on September 14, 2022, Michael Rice approached Amato and gave him a package containing information about land he wished to see removed from the Greenbelt. The following day Rice bought the land at Bathurst for $80M.

On 16 September 2022 Amato told his colleagues in the Housing Ministry that the Government wished to initiate a site-specific review. There were three priority sites which included the Bathurst site in King, next door to us in Newmarket.

Bathurst belongs in the Greenbelt

There is no question the land at Bathurst should stay in the Greenbelt. 88% of its 655 acres are in active agricultural use. 83% of the land is classified as the highest quality soil (class 1) supporting cash crop production. There are three livestock operations. This quality land should not be paved over.

Ford promised that construction would start no later than 2025 and if developers dragged their feet the lands would be returned to the Greenbelt. But the Government hasn’t set targets to allow progress and results to be monitored, measured and publicly reported. 

No surprises there. 

For the People

Ford’s best hope is that we’ll all feel exasperated and indignant for a few days and then we’ll move on. And there will be no lasting consequences. 

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Update on 10 August 2023: Toronto Star editorial: Ford's favours for developers. Fire Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Steve Clark, halt the development of Greenbelt lands and call in the cops. And from the Globe and Mail editorial: A damning report exposes Ford Government's favouritism

Update on 15 August 2023: From the Toronto Star: Doug Ford won't fire the man blamed in the Greenbelt scandal. But who is he really protecting?

Details

 Southlake Regional Health Centre has launched a “search consultation” inviting anyone who is interested: 

“to confidentially provide input in the search process for the new President and CEO.”

The current Chief Executive, Arden Krystal, dropped a bombshell on 5 July 2023 by unexpectedly announcing her resignation in the middle of a major exercise to find a location for a second Southlake campus as close as possible to the Davis Drive site.

Big Job with Salary to Match

Being Chief Executive is a big job with a salary to match. Arden Krystal’s pay last year was $521,297 plus $10,649 in taxable benefits.

Her 2017 contract with the hospital is here. The responsibilities are huge.

I have nothing but praise for the medical staff who deserve ten out of ten. We are lucky to have them.

But it is impossible to write about Southlake without mentioning the many well publicised run-ins the nurses have had with the hospital management. 

And I was shocked to discover the hospital was cutting the number of nurses in the middle of the COVID pandemic.

Southlake’s consultation asks:

    1. From your perspective, what are the challenges, opportunities and key priority areas of focus associated with this President and CEO role and the future of Southlake Regional Health Centre.
    2. What leadership attributes and competences should the ideal candidate possess?
    3. What experience should the ideal candidate possess?
    4. If you were speaking to a good candidate for the role, what would you say about the organisation and the opportunity to generate their interest? 

This survey is confidential. However, Southlake is committed to keeping you updated. If you wish to receive updates from Southlake, including an overview of the results of this survey, please provide your information below...

I can't see a deadline for returning the survey form but I may have missed it. How much notice the Search Commitee will take of the responses is anyone's guess. 

For a non-medical person like me these are daunting questions. But, first up, I’d say the Search Committee (whoever they are) will be looking for someone with a medical background with a track record in hospital administration, delivering results. (Arden Krystal was a nurse in her earlier career.)

The successful candidate will also bring his or her own ethos to the job.

Southlake and Transparency 

The Southlake I’ve observed over the years has hoarded information, treating every scrap of paper as if it contained a patient’s medical history.

The hospital trumpets:

“Southlake Prides Itself on being transparent.” 

Pull the other one!

Shrouded in Secrecy

Meetings of the Board of Directors are shrouded in secrecy. There are no minutes available to the public – not even redacted ones. Only selective meeting summaries.

Even now, over nine months after a key meeting on 1 November 2022 when developer Michael Rice offered Greenbelt land for a new hospital for a nominal fee, Southlake insists it has no records of what happened then. Who is kidding whom?

The Board’s “meeting summaries” do not tell us about conflicts of interest that have been declared by Board members.

They do not tell us if the offer of land for a new hospital was reported to the Board at its meeting on 25 November 2022 or, indeed, at the next meeting on 26 January 2023 after the Ford Government had removed the Rice lands in King from the Greenbelt.

If everything is above board there is absolutely no reason why this information should be withheld.

The new Chief Executive has nothing to fear by opening up a closed institution and letting the daylight in.

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Update on 8 August 2023: From the Toronto Star: Doug Ford's Tories brace for auditor's report into controversial Greenbelt land swap

Details

Luca Bucci, the Chief Executive of the Ontario Home Builders Association, quit the organisation abruptly on Tuesday (1 August 2023) giving no explanation. Bucci was previously Chief of Staff to Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister, Steve Clark.  

In a terse letter to members, the President of the OHBA, Louie Zagordo, said 

“Luca Bucci is no longer with the Ontario Home Builders Association, effective today.”

At the OHBA "Industry Leaders Dinner" in April, Bucci boasted the home builders were effectively writing Government policy on planning and housing.

Bucci's Linked-in profile has not been updated.

This morning’s Toronto Star reports that a draft of the Audit General’s report on the Greenbelt controversy has gone to Doug Ford as is customary and is expected to be published in a few weeks. 

The Star's Robert Benzie writes:

NDP Leader Marit Stiles said the Tories are clearly worried about Lysyk’s “value-for-money” audit into the Progressive Conservatives’ decision to open up the Greenbelt for housing development.

“It’s fair to say that the walls are closing in on this Conservative government,” said Stiles, pointing out Integrity Commissioner J. David Wake is also examining the Greenbelt deals.

Tory sources, speaking confidentially in order to discuss internal deliberations, acknowledged the parallel probes were a hot topic of conversation among cabinet ministers and MPPs this week.

Also generating buzz was the revelation a former top Conservative official had left suddenly as chief executive officer of the Ontario Home Builders’ Association, an influential lobby group for property developers.ullscreen

Luca Bucci, who had been Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Steve Clark’s chief of staff before joining the OHBA in June 2022, parted ways with the association Tuesday.

In a letter to members, OHBA president Louie Zagordo said he was “reaching out to advise that Luca Bucci (CEO) is no longer with the Ontario Home Builders’ Association, effective today.”

Zagordo did not provide a reason for the departure of Bucci, a key player in crafting the Tories’ plan to build 1.5 million new homes in the next decade to tackle Ontario’s housing crisis.

You can read the full article by clicking “read more” below.

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Update on 4 August 2023: The Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk will release her report on the Greenbelt controversy on Wednesday 9 August 2023. Her report will not contain evidence sworn under oath by Michael Rice. He refused to attend an interview.

See also: Timeline: Southlake and the Sale of the Greenbelt lands in King and The new Southlake was planned to be built on Greenbelt land owned by developer Michael Rice and former hospital Board member John Dunlap

Update on 8 August 2023: From the Toronto Star: Doug Ford's Tories brace for Auditor's Report into controversial Greenbelt land swap 

Details

I was surprised to see our MPP, Dawn Gallagher Murphy, tweeting about fire hazards while surrounded by leafy vegetation which could easily harbour black legged ticks, always ready to pounce when they see bare skin. They carry Lyme disease which, in rare instances, can result in death. 

As a Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Health I thought Dawn would be alive to the risks of wandering into the woods when dressed for the beach. 

The health experts tell us we can protect ourselves by 

“wearing long-sleeved shirts, long pants tucked into your socks, and closed-toed shoes.”

I learn that most symptoms of Lyme disease in humans usually appear between 3 and 30 days after a bite from an infected blacklegged tick. There is a painfully long list of symptoms which includes headache, stiff neck, muscle aches and joint pains, fatigue, spasms, numbness or tingling and, frighteningly, facial paralysis.

Lyme Disease is spreading

Dawn did her piece to camera in the Township of McMurrich and Monteith which lies within the North Bay Parry Sound Health District east of the town of Parry Sound and west of Huntsville.

The Health District up there says twelve human cases of Lyme disease have been reported to them in the last five years.

“As of July 26, 2023, 99 ticks have been sent for identification. Ninety one results received, with 42 as blacklegged and one as ixodes kingi. Thirty-seven have tested negative for the bacteria that causes Lyme disease.”

I like the sound of all those negative tests but, unfortunately, in recent years the areas affected by black legged ticks have been relentlessly expanding. 

3,000 cases since 2021

Infected blacklegged ticks can be found across the province. And I read there have been over 3,000 cases of Lyme disease in Ontario since 2021. Oh dear! 

We need Dawn to stay healthy so she can continue to warn us about the perils we face in our daily lives – and to thank, on our behalf, all those who keep us safe.

The last thing I want is for Dawn to wake up with a stiff neck, feeling fatigued.

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Details

The Big Audit

The Province announced earlier today that Newmarket’s finances will be audited by the accountancy firm, Ernst & Young LLP,

“as part of its ongoing work to build 1.5 million homes by 2031”.

We are told the findings - which will examine the books of five other municipalities - will support the Province’s work to boost housing supply and affordability.

But what does Doug Ford mean by affordable housing?

Definition of housing affordability

The Province used to define maximum housing affordability (as set out in the Provincial Policy Statement 2020) as 30% of the gross household income for households with incomes in the lowest 60% of income distribution. York Region explains it this way:

“This is the maximum house price that the lowest earning 60% of households can afford to purchase, assuming that 30% of household income is spent on mortgage payments, mortgage insurance and property taxes.”

York Region’s annual household income at the sixth decile was a very substantial $150,426 which translates into a maximum affordable house price of $564,326. The chart shows the selling price of various housing types in 2022 within York Region and not a single category is affordable for a household on an annual income of $150,426!

Alice in Wonderland

We are now in the Alice and Wonderland situation where the Province is proposing a new Provincial Planning statement to replace the 2020 version but the new one doesn’t define what is meant by affordable housing. In fact, it makes no mention of affordable housing.

Instead Bill 23 (More Homes Built Faster) introduces a new vague definition of  housing affordability which is to be 80% of the average purchase price of a home. 

In 2022, 80% of the average price of a single detached house in York Region would be $1,381,074; for a semi-detached $958,476; for a townhouse $903,513 and for all housing types $1,112,264.

And this when the average Affordable Housing Threshold is $564,326.

How will the average be calculated?

The Regional Treasurer, Laura Mirabella, told members of the Regional Council in December last year that Bill 23 does not define how the average will be calculated. She expects the definition to come in 2023. Will the average be calculated using sale prices by Region? Or, more narrowly, on a municipality-by-municipality basis? Or even on a Province-wide basis?

“It is completely unclear how “average” will be defined. But, yes, if the purchase price of affordable ownership housing new-builds is deemed to be 80% of whatever that average purchase price is, there would be a full exemption which would be a significant loss in development charge revenue for us.”

Developers building “affordable housing” will now be eligible for a waiver on development charges which are paid to the municipality and are used to build the roads, sewers and so on that are needed to support new developments and make them viable.

Task Force

Ludicrously, the Government relies on the recommendations of the Housing Affordability Task Force which calls on the Province to 

“Develop and legislate a clear, province-wide definition of “affordable housing” to create certainty and predictability.” 

Where is the definition?

It may be staring me in the face but I can’t see it.

Target plucked out of thin air

Newmarket has been given a target of 12,000 new homes by 2031. This figure has been plucked out of thin air. I have no idea where it came from. And, in any event, it is totally unrealistic as the Town has no room to expand outwards. 

If there is an answer it is to increase density along the main corridors, Yonge and Davis, already identified for growth. But even so, 12,000 new units is a staggering number. 

I’ll believe it when I see it.

As we all know Ford makes it up as he goes along.

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Update on 27 July 2023: From Newmarket Today: Province names auditor to examine Newmarket finances and from the Toronto Star: Poll finds a majority of Ontarians believe Ford takes decisions which benefit friends

Update on 28 July 2023: From the Toronto Star: Auditing City's books doesn't add up

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