Paul Calandra, Ontario’s new Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, has promised that the findings of the Greenbelt land swap review will be ‘accountable’ and opened to the public.
At his first press conference since assuming the hot seat, Calandra said development will continue on the 14 sites transferred out of the Greenbelt last year while a wider review of all protected land is carried out.
“It will be a full, open and accountable process. It will look at the entirety of the Greenbelt,” Calandra told reporters on Wednesday.
At the same time, the housing minister did not rule out more land being removed from the Greenbelt for development.
“There might be lands that need to be added to the Greenbelt. There may be some lands that are removed, but it will be a fair and open process that will live up to the spirit of the original intent of the Greenbelt,” Calandra said.
Amid an escalating Greenbelt controversy, Premier Doug Ford on Tuesday promised a review by a non-partisan provincial adjudicator of the 14 sites that were removed for housing development .
Calandra says he has asked the adjudicator to complete her work by the end of the year. The agreements will be made public and subjected to the wider Greenbelt review at that time. The minister also expects “shovels in the ground” on these sites by 2025.
While acknowledging the land selection process was flawed, like the premier and former housing minister, Calandra pledged his support for the goverment’s goal of building 1.5 million new homes.
“To be completely clear, I was very supportive of removing lands for the purposes of meeting our goal of building 1.5 million homes,” he said.
Paul Calandra was given the municipal affairs and housing portfolio after his predecessor Steve Clark resigned on Monday. Clark announced his decision to step down a few days after a report from the integrity commissioner found he failed to properly oversee the Greenbelt land process, saying that he didn’t want to be a distraction from the important work that needed to be done.
