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Ontario  + Canada + Cross Border News  + Multi-residential Housing  | 

Ontario Government Could Return Land to Greenbelt

Ontario Premier Doug Ford is warning that his government could return land to the Greenbelt after two parcels were listed for sale.

Ford said in a statement Tuesday that developers put two sites in Ajax, Ont., on the market after they were removed from the Greenbelt, a Greater Toronto Area protected zone. But intentions to sell were never discussed with the province’s facilitator.

“In response, our government is exploring every option available to us, including immediately starting the process to put these sites back into the Greenbelt,” said Ford in his statement.

Ford has come under fire from the province’s Auditor-General for removing 3,000 hectares from the Greenbelt for housing-development purposes.

In early August, Auditor-General Bonnie Lysyk issued a scathing report that accused the provincial government of removing the land through a “biased” process that favoured “certain prominent developers.”

According to Lysyk, the developers of 15 former Greenbelt properties could see their land values increase $8.3 billion altogether.

Photo Credit: Bill Smith/Wikipedia

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Inside The Story

Government of OntarioMonte Stewart

About Monte Stewart

Monte Stewart serves as Content Director - Canada for Connect Commercial Real Estate. Based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Monte provides daily news coverage of major Canadian commercial real estate markets, including Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal and Calgary. He has written about the real estate sector for various media outlets and Avison Young since the early 2000s. In addition, he has covered sports, general news and business for several leading wire services and publications, including The Canadian Press, The Associated Press, The Calgary Herald, The Globe and Mail, Research Money, The Daily Oil Bulletin, Natural Gas World and The Toronto Star. Monte is active in his community as a youth basketball coach and raises funds for such charitable causes as Movember.

  • ◦Lease
  • ◦Sale/Acquisition
  • ◦Development
  • ◦Policy/Gov't
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