Epidemic of not recalling
The Integrity Commissioner’s report on Greenbelt removals released last week includes over seventy instances where the person he was questioning did “not recall” significant information. Those not remembering included developers and their agents, politicians and political staff in the provincial government.
At the top of this list was Ryan Amato, the chief of staff at the centre of the scandal who was jointly appointed by Premier Ford and by Housing Minister Steve Clark. The report notes 29 times when Amato said he couldn’t remember.
The Commissioner interviewed a dozen developers or their paid agents and got more than twenty-five ‘do not recall’ responses. Some gave this answer five times including Hamilton’s Sergio Manchia, a planner and one of the owners of the Winona tender-fruit lands removed from the Greenbelt.
That has left many questions unanswered on how 7400 acres of protected Greenbelt have been made available to a small handful of apparently well-connected developers. Just over a quarter of those lands are in Hamilton, with the largest on both sides of Book Road in Ancaster.
The inability of the Integrity Commissioner to extract full answers has also added to the frustrations of opponents of the Greenbelt removals. They see Ford government actions determined to be unfair and biased and that have added over $8 billion to the wealth of some large developers. Two detailed public investigations, numerous media exposes, and multiple public demonstrations have been met by the provincial government with a refusal to reverse course.
Hamilton city council has unanimously asked the Ford government to “abandon its plan to develop the Greenbelt” including reinstating all affected Hamilton lands. Over 90 percent of residents polled in 2021 wanted no expansion of the urban area – a decision supported by the majority of the last council and apparently by the entirety of the current council.
These messages may be reinforced at a public meeting on Wednesday, September 6 in downtown Ancaster’s Memorial Arts Centre (357 Wilson Street East) called by the city to get resident feedback on the future of the Greenbelt lands. Then on Thursday, September 14, the city will hold a special meeting of the planning committee in the same location on the same subject.
Both are scheduled for 6:30 pm. The first will include a question and answer session for the public. Residents can also register to delegate at the September 12 meeting. Stop Sprawl Hamilton and other organizations are urging opponents of the carving up of the Greenbelt to be at both.
