Ontario will move forward with Greenbelt development amid housing crisis: minister | FULL

Minister are you concerned that this relatively uh positive news is going to be lost by the Greenbelt Land swap controversy you had hundreds of protesters at your constituency office in Pickering yesterday is is there a danger that the government’s problems on the Green Belt are going to overshadow

The relatively stable and positive use here um I don’t think so I think that the people of Ontario recognize that uh you know we’ve had almost uh our populations grown by almost a half a million people they’re coming to this great Province I think that’s a great thing but we’ve got

To continue not just building houses which is an important part but the schools the health care the roads the public transit the long-term care the Broadband we’ve got an unprecedented infrastructure challenge in front of us as we welcome newcomers to this province as we train and retrain skilled workers

And workers right across the province so I think this is just a part of the overall necessity for us to build the economy of the future you guys used to lionize when she was when position now she’s more of a pain in the butt to you guys but uh she she

Delivered a very very tough report makes the government look really bad I mean I think if you ask 100 people on Young Street right now what they thought about 75 of them would say Jesus that doesn’t sound good rob you want to know what uh

When I talked to 100 people in my riding where as you mentioned there were some people out there demonstrating and obviously pursuing their Democratic right you know a lot of them talk to me about the affordability in this province they talk to me the high cost of rent they

Talk about the high cost of the dream of owning home my riding has a lot of newcomers so I talk to them all the time the people on the street the hundred people that I talk to say build you know we need schools we need infrastructure we need health care we

Need public transit we need houses built we need a place to live so that’s what that’s what I hear and that’s why we’re going to continue on our plan to build think anybody cares that the process was flawed the ages findings that that there was a bias toward powerful developers

You’re saying nobody cares about it I didn’t say I didn’t say nobody cares what I did say is that we’re going to continue our Focus to make sure that we uh continue our responsibility to make sure the infrastructure is there with regard to the report as the premier and

Minister Clark have said the 14 recommendations uh are out of 15 are are important to uh to to pursue and they’ve committed to uh to follow those recommendations busy because this was flawed and to look at it and reconsider potentially why not follow that one and say to voters okay we made

A mistake we’re going to revisit this we’re going to make sure we made the right decision you know with 500 000 people coming to this province last year and who knows what number that’ll be this year we have an absolute responsibility to the people of Ontario to continue to build houses there’s no

Question so uh we we’ve acknowledged and the premier and Minister clerk have acknowledged the process could have been better without question accepted those recommendations and but we’re going to continue to move forward because it’s an absolute crisis that we’re in we’re in a housing crisis and I don’t want to stand

Out only anyone wants to stand in front of you a year from now two years from now and say that we didn’t get the job done this is the largest section that was removed is in your right um I mean you’ve been there since 2018 you’ve had a powerful prominent

Positions within this uh government did any developer reach out to you to say I want that land root uh they didn’t you know they I haven’t sat down with those developers in terms of uh talking about removing those those lands uh certainly uh something that but the Mayors the mayor

At the time and the council brought up and many people brought up the fact that they’ve been advocating for over a couple of decades to get those lands developed in fact there was a I believe a commitment to start that process and then according to these Mayors uh it

Wasn’t real science it was political science that those lands were removed so this is something the municipality has been advocating for for a long time I’m sure the developers have been advocating for that for for a long time the people who own that land uh which I I I don’t

Know the full list but of course there must be many um well what I’ve heard consistently from the council from the mayor the previous Mayors is that you know Pickering along with another a lot of other uh communities is bursting at the seams people are moving in and doesn’t

Remember that land is of course between Finch and the 407 right next door to the largest city in Canada so they they want to get those houses built so at what point did you did you find out that significant land in your riding was going to be removed

From the Green Valley what did you say because I mean I I think a lot of people would say the Finance Minister somebody who has tremendous power when it comes to the government influence as well would have said hey what’s what what’s going on here how did you select the

Land so what what level of involvement did you have when it came to the land in your riding to say how did this process uh figure out this land I was briefed uh the day of the cabinet and of course it wasn’t a surprise to me because as I said the

Mayors have been uh and the people of on um Pickering and many on Council had been advocating for for years well before my time as well did you agree to the removal you know I support the government and I support the initiative to build at least

50 000 homes on the Green Belt uh I support that we’ve got to build a minimum of a million and a half homes and I’m concerned because if we don’t get that done we’re gonna it it’s gonna put pressure continue to put pressure on a range of affordable housing the

Homelessness we’ve got refugees coming to this uh Province we’ve been there to support that I I sat down with the regional chair of Durham on Friday and he talked about the challenges with regard to refugees and people coming to Durham and he’s focused on Ottawa because he knows the province is there

And we’ve been supporting Supportive Housing for example in Durham and right across the province so this is something that I think is absolutely necessary to continue to build homes in the province latest plan uh reverse differences Durham region says they’re not they weren’t ready they had no idea they had

Other commitments and certain commitments that will meet their targets by the way the oldest landed seating that no one’s building on building instead um and Pickering agreed to keep this land agricultural forever when it was sold back to the and then they re-nagged on that so the

Idea that that was just fake signs or something there was actually a three-party consensus a process that took decades it had been that land had been earmarked for agriculture for years why do you just now dismiss all that and say but this is still houses no as I

Said the previous mayor the current mayor uh we’re always very supportive and and obviously they were the ones that came to to uh to the public to say that they they supported building that and I think the mayor made a statement last week and and said that now that the

Decisions been made we gotta make sure that infrastructure is is there and I want to be very clear about that for the people of Pickering and the people for uh of Ontario that the infrastructure the community benefits will be paid billions of dollars for uh for the infrastructure the schools the community

Centers the uh the roads Etc that are going to be necessary to have the infrastructure are going to be paid by those same developers and they’ll work with the in independent provincial land facilitator and this the committee the city the current Council the current mayor to get that done so you’re saying

That the 6 billion dollar that that’s going to be paid back to Texas so that actually is money that uh really should be the taxpayers sold back on the condition that it stayed Farm at that price and now it’s been magically turned into developable land and all that money is going to someone

Else but you’re saying that that process which by the way you don’t have any numbers it’s all in fine closed doors you’re saying that the amount of money the developers put into the infrastructure will pay us back for that six billion they will pay private interest will will uh who are going to

Develop those homes are going to pay for the infrastructure there that’s absolutely a condition of it well certainly billions I don’t know how much they got to pay for the cost of building but Jeff they have to pay for the cost of the building and uh you know one step

At a time but we’ve made it very clear that as part of the uh putting those lands out of the green belt that there has to be a commitment to pay for the that infrastructure and we’ve also made it clear that if they don’t get it done

And start the process and get shovels in the ground by 2025 then there’ll be a process to put those lands back into the green belt you’re projecting a deficit and that unchanged from the budget it seems like every time you put a number out there the FAO says no that’s not

Right it’s not as bad as that we’ve done the stance very recently where they found people Surplus and the before um is everything working okay at the FAO are they filling their mandate or Athletics and some transparency or is it is it misleading do you do well I think with regard to the

FAO you have to recognize that they use a completely different methodology one that we can’t that’s their methodology that they use unaudited numbers they use unconsolidated numbers like they don’t include schools and school boards or colleges or or hospitals in their numbers those numbers for example were

Were done in April there’s a lot of post uh year-end transactions that are done those all come out in the audited statements and those audited statements are due by the end of September so I’ll be up in front of you again to be able to to address

These specific numbers for 2020 to 23 based on the audited results and then obviously in response to the latest FAO report opposition parties in in your estimation is uh struggling a reason for more fiscal Prudence from government for Less you know what we’re doing is I believe you

Can be fiscally responsible invest in infrastructure and support workers and families in Ontario and we’ve demonstrated that and we’ve also been very transparent and I’ve been out all the time talking about the numbers and uh you know we’ve got substantive Investments that we put through uh the

2223 uh year and and of course in the budget for 23 24. I’ll give you example Healthcare we increased by some six billion dollars to to meet the health care needs we’ve increased the education budget we’ve increased the infrastructure spend because as I said we’ve got to get things done so we’re

Going to continue we put money obviously as part of q1 we’ve put money more money into crime like the auto theft we put almost 50 million dollars additional money on top of the policing money that we put put in place so that’s part of governing I’m committed to continuing

Our plan to invest in this province to build things and support our workers and and I would add just one more thing with regard to the economy these are uncertain times no one including the FAO or anyone here has a perfect crystal ball so it’s important that we stick to our plan

Well we are working on the the green Bond framework uh which I think the last time it was updated was about seven or eight years ago so it’s time for a refresh so we’re working on upgrading and and and uh taking the the framework that we issue green bonds and that’s a

Work that’s ongoing let me also say that we’ve uh We’ve issued uh a cumulated amount over the years of 15 billion dollars in green bonds there’s no other Province or in fact the the government of Ottawa Canada that’s issued as many green ponds in fact that’s more I

Understand than all of them combined including the federal government and let me say this as well with regard to greenbots one of the the factors for example that Volkswagen said that they uh they picked Ontario they could have gone lots of different places was the fact that we have a green grid that

We’ve been committed to um you know greenifying our economy electrifying our economy and so Capital decisions are being made and we are raising on behalf of the people of Ontario finances through uh green bonds and it’s it’s worked very well corner uh recommendations great guy great early there are some who are

Concerned about the Optics of what has happened to the green belts and he wishes that some would good good people would speak up what are you hearing around the table are there some concerns about how this has been handled and if this should be reconsidered well as the

Premier and Minister Clark said you know the the process could have been definitely done better and I think we all accept that Cynthia so that’s why those 14 recommendations I’ve read the report are good governance to to be able to to pursue but we won’t relent on our

Decision to build houses in Ontario speaking from the same Playbook as Minister Clark and the premier are you being given lines to repeat so that you stay on this Cynthia I spent a lot of time talking to people in Pickering and Knox bridge and right across this

Province and I can tell you just about everywhere I go they talk about housing housing is in crisis and it is a supply issue Mr Wallace is done by your government concluded there’s enough land to build on without opening up the green belt and yes there’s a housing crisis but there

Isn’t a land crisis well at the time the task force reported some a year and a half ago we didn’t have the population growth numbers I mean 500 000 people that’s a significant amount of people if you think about picking again that’s going to support a lot of new homes and

It’s not just front door back door it’s affordable and attainable at least 10 percent have to be affordable and it’s not just that you know if you look at Pickering they the announcement was made a couple weeks ago that 10 new towers are going up at the Pickering Town

Center 6 000 units right beside a GO train station so it’s not either or its end the question what’s the definition of affordable housing if 10 of the five fifty thousand homes will be affordable what’s what’s the what’s the price point going to be well that’s that all to be

Worked out and I’m sure as these lands are brought forward for uh approval because the council and the Planned provincial land uh facilitator will have to outline that specifically but make no mistake that we this government is committed to ensuring that affordable housing is there I’m also struggling with its budget

Shortfall is there any more money coming from the province you supported have you had a conversation within an hour of their Channel not any uh had any conversations and uh you know I would point out that in the federal Minister’s budget uh 23 24 there’s no money uh any

More money for for Toronto um you know and so uh you know we’ve been there for Toronto we’ve put in billions of dollars to support Toronto uh in fact in my last budget uh Toronto asked for uh 48 million dollars for Supportive Housing we gave them 48 million dollars

For supporter housing I increased the support of housing 40 percent from 500 million to 700 million dollars um and we’re going to continue to to support uh people right across this province not just for front door back door type of houses condos affordable housing income targeted housing Supportive Housing because uh it’s it’s

Really all hands on deck it’s not just the municipality it’s the federal government The Province uh has been there and you know I would just ask the the mayor to to look at some things like uh you know renaming Dundas Street is that the priority that she wants to fund

And if they’ve got money to do that then then that’s the the wheel of of council so um you know that’s uh that’s something I’ll leave to to the mayor and I’m sure we’ll sit down at some point so thank you very much everyone

Ontario Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy said Monday the government would move forward on its plan to open Greenbelt lands for development despite a scathing report from the auditor general because the province is facing a “housing crisis.”

He said Ontarians he speaks to are telling him to build homes and infrastructure.

Over the weekend, hundreds of people staged a protest at Bethlenfalvy’s office in Pickering, Ont., frustrated with how the government has handled the process of developing the Greenbelt.

Bethlenfalvy added that the government has made it “very clear” to developers they would need to pay for the infrastructure needed to build on the lands in the Greenbelt the government has opened to development.

He said the lands would be returned to the Greenbelt if shovels are not in the ground by 2025.

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