Ontario’s massive greenbelt scandal, explained in full
Posted August 11, 2023 7:28 am.
Last Updated August 11, 2023 9:45 am.
In today’s Big Story podcast, the Greenbelt is one of Ontario’s biggest environmental success stories — millions of acres of protected land that capture carbon, protect at-risk species and play a huge role in feeding the province. Unless of course the land is carved up and sold to developers to create housing.
Ontario’s auditor general released a report this week that found the Doug Ford’s government, in choosing portions of land to be developed, was influenced by developers who now stand to make billions, their “information gathering and decision protocols were sidelined and abandoned” and did not consider environmental, agricultural or financial impacts of the move.
Fatima Syed is an Ontario reporter for The Narwhal (Read Fatima’s and her colleague Emma McIntosh’s full coverage of the Greenbelt scandal here.) She said the stuff in the report is the sort of stuff you expect to see on TV and movies.
“The sheer extent of oblivion on the parts of the people that have been elected by the public of Ontario to make decisions that impact the environment around them is very, very troubling,” said Syed.
It’s a damning report that needs to be explained in detail — how we got here, what it means and what might happen now. So we’ll do that with a member of the team that led the reporting on the issue since last year.
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