Speaker, through you to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing: In May 2021, one month after the Premier promised the people of Ontario, “I’m not touching the greenbelt,” a company controlled by Silvio De Gasperis took out a $100-million loan at 21% interest to buy 106 acres of greenbelt farmland in Vaughan. This was an unusually risky loan for an undevelopable property, but less risky if Mr. De Gasperis had reason to believe the land would soon be made available for development.

Did the minister or any other government official discuss proposals to develop these greenbelt lands with Mr. De Gasperis or any of his associates or lobbyists prior to November 4? Yes or no?

Did the minister, or any other government official, discuss proposals to develop these greenbelt lands with any representatives of Orca Equity or their development partners prior to November 4? Yes or no?

The minister also seems to have a curious interest in these particular properties. On November 4, he added them inside Markham’s urban boundaries when he amended York region’s official plan. Did the minister, or any other government official, discuss proposals to develop these lands with any representative or associate of Wyview or Flato prior to November 4? Yes or no?

Speaker, let’s be clear with the people of Ontario what we’re debating with Bill 39. We are debating turning over centuries of democratic principles. That’s what’s at stake right now—the democratic principle of majority rule. We all know Winston Churchill’s famous quote that democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others that have been tried; well, I guess the government wants to try another form of government called “minority rule” at city councils. That’s what’s at stake right here.

I used to think Conservatives were about conserving things. They’re certainly not about conserving democratic institutions and democratic principles. They’re certainly not conserving class 1 and 2 farmland in the Duffins Rouge Agricultural Preserve.

We don’t need to get rid of democracy and democratic principles to build housing, to restore the dream of home ownership. We don’t need to pave over the farmland that feeds us and dismantle environmental protections to build the housing people need that’s affordable in the communities where they want to live.

The government’s own Housing Affordability Task Force, hand-picked by the Premier, didn’t put forward things I always support, but they put forward a number of solutions that the government is actually not even bringing forward. The task force never said, “Open the greenbelt for development.” They never said, “Get rid of the triple protections on the Duffins Rouge Agricultural Preserve.” And they never said, “Overturn democratic rule in this province.”

A couple of things they did talk about, in Bills 44 and 45, were getting rid of exclusionary zoning, so we can bring in gentle density—so if the government truly wants to restore home ownership, why don’t we pass Bill 44, which I’ve put forward, which puts forward the housing task force recommendations on how to do gentle density? And while we’re at it, let’s pass Bill 45, which shows how we can bring in mid-rise development across this province, so we can actually build homes that people can afford, close to where they work, in communities where they want to live, without paving over the farmland that feeds us and contributes $50 billion to the province’s economy. We can do it without undermining democracy like Bill 39 does.

I want to thank the good people of Huron Shores and Bruce Mines, the cattlemen’s association and the farmers who are there. The petition is entitled “Protect the Greenbelt.

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas Bill 23 is the Ford government’s latest attempt to remove protected land from the greenbelt, allowing developers to bulldoze and pave over 7,000 acres of farmland in the greenbelt;

“Whereas Ontario is already losing 319.6 acres of farmland and green space daily to development;

“Whereas the government’s Housing Affordability Task Force found there are plenty of places to build homes without destroying the greenbelt;

“Whereas Ford’s repeated moves to tear up farmland and bulldoze wetlands have never been about housing, but are about making the rich richer;

“Whereas green spaces and farmland are what we rely on to grow our food, support natural habitats and prevent flooding;

“Therefore we, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to immediately amend Bill 23, stop all plans to further remove protected land from the greenbelt and protect existing farmland in the province by passing the NDP’s Protecting Agricultural Land Act.”

I fully agree with this petition and send it to page Alex to bring down to the Clerk’s table.