Doug Ford reverses course on Greenbelt development, says he’ll maintain protected area
The Ontario PC leader had earlier claimed that developing the Greenbelt would help ease high real estate prices
Doug Ford speaking to reporters at a campaign rally in Toronto on Feb. 3, 2018. (Photo by Creative Touch Imaging Ltd./NurPhoto via Getty Images)
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This article has been updated
TORONTO – Doug Ford is reversing a plan to open a large protected green space around the Toronto region to housing development if elected premier this spring.
The Progressive Conservative leader says he has heard from people asking him not to touch the Greenbelt since outlining his development pledge yesterday.
He now says a Tory government would maintain the Greenbelt in its entirety.
Earlier today, Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne called Ford’s Greenbelt-development plan a “wrongheaded” move that would make the map of the protected area look like “Swiss cheese.”
Ford says the Tory platform will promise to increase the supply of affordable housing across the Greater Toronto Area while protecting the Greenbelt in its entirety.
The Greenbelt, a 7,200-square-kilometre area that borders the Greater Golden Horseshoe region around Lake Ontario, was protected from urban development by legislation in 2005.