developer

Thursday February 23, 2023

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday February 23, 2023

Doug Ford and the $150 stag and doe

Young Doug Ford: The Series

You never have to worry much about subtlety when it comes to Ontario Premier Doug Ford.

Nuance isn’t in the family genes. When Ford’s brother Rob was Toronto’s mayor, their shared plan for the city’s portlands — a huge waterfront area just east of downtown that’s just yearning for smart development — included a giant shopping mall and the world’s biggest Ferris wheel, for which they were much mocked by the higher orders of city sophisticates.

July 28, 2018

It didn’t faze Ford, who’s never wasted much time worrying about sophisticates in any case. His lack of artifice was evident when he became premier and made one of his first acts a surprise move to whack Toronto’s city council down to size, chopping it by almost half and thus — by his reckoning — freeing taxpayers of a lot of expensive timewasters. When it came to name a new head to the provincial police force, Ford plumped for a family pal, who later withdrew over the ensuing uproar. When he sought to prevent a confrontation with teachers over a new contract he threatened to invoke the notwithstanding clause, thereby provoking an even bigger confrontation than he’d been trying to avoid.

May 29, 2020

It’s a trait that doesn’t always work to his disfavour. The obvious sincerity of his performance during the COVID pandemic did much to counter the poor impression he’d made and helped him to easily win a second mandate. Since then he’s reverted to form, publicly urging John Tory to hang on as mayor after he’d admitted to an extramarital affair, loudly warning the city would be “toast” if voters replaced Tory with “a lefty.”

That’s Ford being Ford. Torontonians may have come to recognize that fact; it remains to be seen how far they’re willing to go in accepting it.

At the moment the premier is caught in a very Ford-like situation he utterly fails to understand. Prior to the wedding of one of his four daughters last summer a stag and doe party was organized to help pay the bills, with tickets priced at $150. Questions arose when it became known that a number of developers had attended, given that a few months later the province announced it was freeing up several chunks of land for development in a protected greenbelt around the city, some of which had been purchased by builders after Ford came to power in 2018. At least one of those developers, according to the Toronto Star, was at the wedding fundraiser.

The premier sees questions about the issue entirely as an unwarranted attack on his family.

February 16, 2023

“It’s absolutely ridiculous. About a $150 stag? You’ve got to be kidding me,” he groused during one heated round of reporter questioning.

“This is the first time in Canadian history you go after any premier’s family, which there used to be an unwritten rule (that) you don’t do that, go after any mayor’s family, any prime minister, but, I guess, when it comes to us there’s different rules.”

It’s highly doubtful this is really the first time journalistic questioning has strayed into a politician’s family life, but you can see Ford’s point. Why are people picking on his daughter over a matter she has nothing to do with?

“No one can influence the Fords,” he’s insisted repeatedly, noting the family’s practise of opening their doors to large throngs of people on a regular basis, with everyone welcome.

March 22, 2019

Money raised at the stag and doe, he says, was handled by “the boys.” That apparently refers to the friends of the groom, a police officer. Ford is big on the cops. “There’s no secret I absolutely love our police officers,” Ford said earlier in his years as premier when he was criticized for naming a Toronto cop to the Ontario Human Rights Commission. “I’m proud to say that three out of my four daughters are with police officers, so there’s my bias right there as well,”  he said at the time.

His remarks happened to coincide with the announcement of $20.5 million to fight gang violence in a suburban Toronto community. The fact that the appointee was an open fan of the premier and hadn’t applied for the post, and came at a time the commission was looking into a case involving the Toronto police, would have struck him as immaterial. The guy was “top notch.” What’s anything else got to do with it?

Ford sent the matter of the stag and doe to Ontario’s integrity commissioner and was cleared. The premier had no knowledge of any gifts the couple received and “there was no discussion of government business” at the event, the commissioner ruled. Yes, there were developers invited, but they were family friends.

March 8, 2019

Combining the personal with the political is a Ford trait. It’s part of his appeal to the people who are happy to vote for him. It works both ways, though: If your personal friends are heavy with cops and developers, people are going to ask questions if cops and developers seem to be doing particularly well from your government.

There are legitimate questions being asked about how a few companies came to buy specific pockets of property that were removed from Greenbelt protection. Answering those questions would help preclude the sort of suspicion that leads to intrusive questions about who attended a stag and doe. (The National Post) 

 

Thursday February 16, 2023

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday February 16, 2023

Ford won’t say who sent invites to daughter’s $150 stag-and-doe event

January 28, 2023

Ontario Premier Doug Ford did not divulge details of who sent invitations – including to developers – for his daughter’s $150-a-ticket stag-and-doe party last summer, saying only “the boys” took care of the money that was raised. 

His office later said “the boys” was a reference to the premier’s son-in-law and the man’s friends. 

The integrity commissioner has cleared Ford over the stag and doe, which is typically a fundraiser for a couple before they get married. 

Ford bristled at journalists’ questions Wednesday about the pre-wedding event that had an unknown number of developers in attendance. 

January 17, 2023

“In my opinion, it’s absolutely ridiculous about a $150 stag, you’ve got to be kidding me,” Ford said Friday at a funding announcement for auto parts maker Magna in Brampton, Ont. 

Based on information provided by Ford, the integrity commissioner said the premier had no knowledge of gifts given to his daughter and son-in-law. The commissioner said there was no discussion of government business at the event, but confirmed developers who are longtime friends of the Ford family were there.

When asked how much money was raised at the stag and doe from developers and who the money went to, Ford said “the boys took care of that.” 

The premier said he and his family know “tens of thousands of people.”

December 10, 2022

“No one can influence the Fords,” the premier said. 

Several months after the stag and doe, the province announced it was opening up the protected Greenbelt to build 50,000 homes as part of its plan to build 1.5 million homes in 10 years.

Ontario’s integrity commissioner and auditor general are conducting separate investigations into the government’s decision to open the Greenbelt to development – both Ford and Housing Minister Steve Clark have denied any wrongdoing. (CBC) 

From sketch to finish, see the current way Graeme completes an editorial cartoon using an iPencil, the Procreate app, and a couple of cheats on an iPad Pro …

 

Saturday January 28, 2023

January 28, 2023

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday January 28, 2023

Developers who bought Ontario Greenbelt land linked to Ford government

YDF Merch

Since Ontario Premier Doug Ford was first elected four years ago, developers have paid tens of millions of dollars for a number of properties that include protected lands the province is now proposing to carve out of the Greenbelt.

Among those properties is a substantial piece of land lying largely in the Greenbelt that sold for $80-million in September, just weeks before the government revealed its new plan.

During the 2018 election campaign, Mr. Ford promised not to touch the Greenbelt – a vast arc of farmland, forests and wetlands across Southern Ontario. The pledge followed public uproar over a video that showed him saying he would allow housing development on a “big chunk” of the protected area. Again, in late 2020, he made a similar promise.

May 3, 2018

The Ford government reversed itself in November, announcing plans to remove 7,400 acres from the Greenbelt for the construction of at least 50,000 new homes. At the same time, land elsewhere would be added to the Greenbelt that, the government says, would result in a net increase of 2,000 acres.

The proposal to open up the Greenbelt to development has sparked protest from environmentalists, agriculture advocates and land-use experts, who argue that swapping one piece for another may be ineffective, because land has different environmental values, and that this also paves the way for other developers to push for their properties to be removed from the Greenbelt.

The proposed carve-outs of 15 areas of land include at least nine properties that were bought by developers for $10-million or more – transactions that topped $300-million in total – since the Progressive Conservatives took office in 2018, property records show.

November 23, 2022

At least four developers who bought the properties the government is now proposing to remove from the Greenbelt have either donated to the PC Party, hired conservative lobbyists, or both.

The government defended the decision to open up parcels of Greenbelt land to development but did not address questions related to the developers.

Among the sales in the Greenbelt parcels up for potential development, the most recent occurred in mid-September, about six weeks before the government’s announcement.

On Sept. 15, a company controlled by developer Michael Rice bought the 280-hectare property in the Township of King for $80-million. The real estate agent who sold the property promoted it as a “prime land-banking opportunity,” referring to the practice of holding undeveloped land for future opportunities.

The property had previously traded hands in 2000 – before the Greenbelt protections were put in place – for about $9.3-million.

October 27, 2011

Mr. Rice’s development company, Rice Group, hired Frank Klees, a former Ontario PC cabinet minister, between 2019-20 to lobby the government “on the economic development opportunities represented by a number of the client’s emerging projects,” the lobbyist registry says. The contract predated Mr. Rice’s purchase of the land in King Township. Mr. Klees did not return an e-mail seeking comment.

In addition, provincial records also show that a person with the name Michael Rice has donated more than $10,500 to the PC Party since 2018. This individual also donated money to the Liberals in 2018. As well, three donors with the same names as Rice Group executives have given the PC Party thousands of dollars since 2018.

Mr. Rice did not respond to e-mails requesting comment. (The Globe and Mail) 

From sketch to finish, see the current way Graeme completes an editorial cartoon using an iPencil, the Procreate app, and a couple of cheats on an iPad Pro …

 

Tuesday January 17, 2023

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday January 17, 2023

Ontario expanding number and range of surgeries offered at for-profit clinics

Ontario is significantly expanding the number and range of medical procedures performed in privately run clinics as the province deals with a surgical backlog made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic.

November 9, 2022

The change will be introduced over three phases. The first will see surgical and diagnostic clinics in Ottawa, Kitchener-Waterloo and Windsor perform an additional 14,000 cataract operations each year, representing about 25 per cent of the province’s current wait list for the procedure.

Next, more private clinics will be able to offer MRI and CT imaging, as well as colonoscopies and endoscopies.

“These procedures will be non-urgent, low-risk and minimally invasive and, in addition to shortening wait times, will allow hospitals to focus their efforts and resources on more complex and high-risk surgeries,” the province said in a news release.

The government intends that by 2024, the third phase will see hip and knee replacements performed at for-profit clinics.

The impending changes were outlined by Premier Doug Ford and Health Minister Sylvia Jones at a news conference Monday.

December 1, 2021

Ford and Jones said several times the care will be covered by OHIP, and Ford stressed patients will “never use their credit cards” at the clinics. He didn’t directly answer a reporter’s question about whether or not clinics would be allowed to upsell patients on associated elements of care.

While the changes are needed because of the province’s long surgery wait lists, Ford said, they will be kept in place permanently even after the backlog is cleared.

There are currently about 900 privately operated surgical and diagnostic clinics open in Ontario, Jones added. The province plans to approve licences for additional clinics in the future, she said.

Legislation set to be introduced in February would “strengthen oversight” of private health facilities, the news release said, and the province will continue to update its standards for how they deliver care.

Various health-care professionals told CBC Toronto last week they are concerned that the plan would drain resources from publicly funded hospitals and benefit the owners of private-sector clinics without improving patient care.

May 13, 2021

Jones said the changes will not affect staffing levels at hospitals in the province, while Ford lamented “endless debates” about who should deliver health care.

“The way I can describe it, you have a dam, you have a log jam, are you going to just keep pouring the water up against the logs?” Ford said.

“Or are you going to reroute some of the water and take the pressure off the dam? You see what happens when the dam has too much water, it breaks.”

Speaking to reporters, presumptive NDP Leader Marit Stiles said MPPs should be called back to the legislature immediately so the details of the plan can be debated. Stiles accused Ford of manufacturing a staffing crisis in hospitals via his government’s wage restraint law and “following the privatization playbook to a tee.”

“Make no mistake, Doug Ford is misleading you when he says that funding surgeries in private, for-profit clinics won’t have an impact on Ontarians,” Stiles said at Queen’s Park, adding believes the changes mark early steps toward a two-tiered health-care system in the province. (CBC) 

 

Saturday December 10, 2022

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday December 10, 2022

Bill 23: Doug Ford’s gift to Hamilton

November 30, 2022

This holiday season, let’s consider the gift that just keeps on giving — Bill 23. Not giving to everyone, mind you. But to those who do benefit, the Ford government’s law to build more and faster is a real gem.

Like the development industry overall, and specifically developers with plans and money to build more sprawl development on lands that used to be protected by being in the Greenbelt. They’re thrilled. Especially those who, coincidentally, purchased some of that land in the not-too-distant past, who will see the value of that land go sky-high as soon as the first developments are approved.

Isn’t that a stroke of good luck? They bought Greenbelt land, and it happened to be soon before the government announced it would make it available for development.

December 18, 2019

And even more coincidence — some of them donated a lot of money to the Progressive Conservative party of Doug Ford. What a crazy world.

You would almost think those developers knew something was coming. But that would mean that someone in the government told them, and Ford assures us that isn’t the case. So nothing to see here, the premier says everything’s just fine. Mind you, he’s the same premier who said not long ago that he wouldn’t authorize development on the Greenbelt, so perhaps his earnest assurances should be taken with a grain of salt.

December 18, 2018

And how about the people of the lovely town of Erin, not far from Guelph? To their surprise, they learned recently that 7,000 acres of their town and region are being added to the Greenbelt, part of the government’s pledge to replace more than what it is taking. Of course, most of the land in the area is agricultural and is being used for that purpose, and it’s unlikely it would ever give way to development in any event.

Erin folks now have Greenbelt protection they didn’t need in the first place.

In addition to the town of Erin, the province will also add into the Greenbelt 13 publicly owned lands in so-called Urban River Valleys across the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area. Consider the words of Kevin Thomason of the Greenbelt West Coalition, who said to Torstar: “This is already protected land … this land is already owned by the government — the areas around creeks and rivers that face no development threat and had no possibility of ever being developed.”

December 10, 2020

Anyone see a trend here? Take prime agricultural land from areas like Niagara and the Duffins Rouge Agriculture Preserve, which have some of the best farming soil in the country, and replace them in the Greenbelt with lands that are not development candidates to begin with. Then call it an even swap. Clever, non?

New Hamilton city councillor Ted McMeekin, also a former provincial municipal affairs minister, today delivers a cogent and impactful summary of what is wrong with Bill 23. It’s recommended reading.

As is the story by Spec journalist Teviah Moro about the impact of the legislation on Hamilton’s tax base. Because Bill 23 removes or reduces development fees from much new construction, Hamilton will forego revenue of between $14 million and $25 million each year. That revenue would typically go to pay for infrastructure such as sewers, roads, bridges and services to support new housing.

November 23, 2022

Here again, developers certainly win by paying lower or no development charges. They get improved profitability, while Hamilton and its taxpayers get — well — Scrooged.

Fortunately, Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Steve Clark says municipalities hit hard by revenue losses could be “made whole,” assuming the province agrees with their business case. Mind you, he was talking about Toronto especially, and also about getting the federal government to use its Housing Accelerator Fund to compensate municipalities.

So, the province changes the rules causing municipalities to lose millions, then it says it’s up to Ottawa to fix the revenue shortfall created by provincial policy. See how they did that?

There you have it — Bill 23, the gift that keeps on giving. Thanks Santa Doug. (The Hamilton Spectator) 

From sketch to finish, see the current way Graeme completes an editorial cartoon using an iPencil, the Procreate app, and a couple of cheats on an iPad Pro … These sped up clips are posted to encourage others to be creative, to take advantage of the technology many of us already have and to use it to produce satire. Comfort the afflicted. Afflict the comforted.