Ford would open Greenbelt for some development

TORONTO — Doug Ford said Monday he would allow some development in the Greenbelt — the world’s largest permanently protected green space — if elected premier this spring, to ease the housing crisis in the Greater Toronto Area.

The Progressive Conservative leader made the comments after the governing Liberals accused him of making private deals with developers to open up the Greenbelt for housing development.

The Liberals pointed to an online video of Ford — apparently taken in early February when he was a Tory leadership candidate — promising to open up a “big chunk” of the protected area.

When asked Monday about the video, Ford said he supports the protected green space, but would allow development in some areas to create more supply in the housing market, including more affordable housing.

For every piece of the Greenbelt opened for development, Ford said he would add equivalent land to the protected area to ensure it doesn’t change in size.

“I give you my commitment, that anything that we look at on the Greenbelt will be replaced,” he said. “So, there’ll still be the equal amount of Greenbelt.”

Ford said the only way to bring down housing costs in the Toronto region and make the market more affordable is to increase the supply.

“You build more and hopefully it will level off,” he said. “But it’s a tough situation right now.”

In the 40-second video clip, which was posted Monday on YouTube, Ford suggests the idea of opening the Greenbelt for construction came from developers.

“I’ve already talked to some of the biggest developers in this country, and I wish I could say it was my idea, but it was their idea as well,” he said. “Give us property and we’ll build and we’ll drive the cost down.”

Liberal Environment Minister Chris Ballard accused Ford of quietly planning to pave over it.

“(It’s) a plan he has kept from the public, but shares privately ... with developers who stand to make big money if Ford wins,” he said. Ballard said the Greenbelt, a 7,200-square-kilometre area that borders the Greater Golden Horseshoe area that surrounds Lake Ontario, must continue to be preserved.