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A timeline of the Greenbelt scandal

Here's an edited and condensed version of the auditor general's thorough timeline of the Greenbelt scandal
The Trillium staff
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Bonnie Lysyk, Auditor General of Ontario answers questions during her annual report news conference at the Ontario Legislature in Toronto on Monday December 7, 2020. Lysyk is set to release her annual report Wednesday, including audits on COVID-related contracts and procurement, as well as the province's vaccination program. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn

EDITOR’S NOTE: This article originally appeared on The Trillium, a new Village Media website devoted exclusively to covering provincial politics at Queen’s Park.

Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk's swan song is her 95-page report into the Doug Ford government's decision to open up some Greenbelt land for development. 

Over her last six months in office, she and her team demanded documents and interviews with political staff, members of Ontario’s public service, cabinet office staff, developers, lobbyists, municipal officials, and others about the process the government used to choose that land.

We have the story for you here. But Lysyk also included a timeline that shows how it happened day by day, which we've reproduced with some edits and clarifications below. We also include the names of the players involved, where the auditor did not. 

2005

  • The Greenbelt Act passes, defining and approving the Greenbelt boundary, and establishing the Greenbelt Plan. The Greenbelt Area includes areas covered by the Niagara Escarpment Plan and the Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Plan.
  • Duffins Rouge Agricultural Preserve Act passes, reinstating the easements on the Duffins Rouge Agricultural Preserve (DRAP).

2005 - 2007

  • Developer Silvio De Gasperis of TACC seeks to develop lands in the DRAP and takes the province to court. The court rules against the developer. 

2018

  •  June: Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario forms a majority government.

2020

  •  December: More than half of the members of the Greenbelt Council resign over the province’s decision to fast-track development on the Lower Duffins Creek wetland east of Toronto and the intent to disempower conservation authorities. The chair resigns Dec. 7.

2021

  • February: The Housing ministry posts a proposal notice on the Environmental Registry for a 61-day consultation period to expand the Greenbelt by adding 13 Urban River Valleys (URVs) and lands from the Paris Galt Moraine.
  • March: New rules are implemented to make the Greenbelt Council’s advice confidential and restrict its members' ability to talk to journalists as per a new media protocol. The chair becomes restricted to only answering questions about the council’s mandate and processes, while other members can answer questions about their roles and professional backgrounds — but are bound to keep council deliberations confidential.
  • December: Ontario government establishes the Housing Affordability Task Force, with a mandate to provide the minister with recommendations to accelerate progress in closing the housing supply gap to improve housing affordability.

2022

  • Feb. 8: The Housing Affordability Task Force concludes in its report that Ontario needs to build 1.5 million new homes over the next 10 years to fill the housing gap.
  • March: The Greenbelt Council’s terms of reference are changed to weaken its mandate to protect the environment, including to make its advice confidential.
  • March 24: The Housing ministry decides not to proceed with expanding the Greenbelt into the Paris Galt Moraine area but moves forward with the next phase of consultation to add 13 URV areas to the Greenbelt.
  • March 24: The ministry posts a proposal notice on the Environmental Registry for a 30-day consultation period to expand the Greenbelt by adding or expanding the 13 URVs consulted on in the first phase of consultation.
  •  April 27: On the day they are scheduled to submit the proposal to the government for final approval, ministry staff receive direction that the province is no longer proceeding with the proposal to expand the Greenbelt by adding or expanding the 13 URVs.
  • June 2: Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario forms a second consecutive majority government.
  • June 29: Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Steve Clark receives a mandate letter from Premier Doug Ford outlining the government’s priorities and policy directions for the Housing ministry. The stated goals include: “In Fall 2022, complete work to codify processes for swaps, expansions, contractions and policy updates for the Greenbelt,” and “This should include a comprehensive plan to expand and protect the Greenbelt.”
  • July 4: The Housing minister’s chief of staff, Ryan Amato, is appointed by the Premier’s Office Chief of Staff.
  • Aug. 9: The Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD) and the Ontario Home Builders Association (OHBA) release a five-point plan to address the housing crisis in Ontario. Number three on the plan is to “make new land available to build housing.”
  • Aug. 11: The premier’s daughter’s stag-and-doe party. News media report that developers attend the party.
  • Aug. 30: Upon request, the Housing ministry briefs Amato on potential tools available to amend the Greenbelt boundary, comparing system-wide and site-specific approaches.
  • Sept. 14: BILD holds its Chair’s Dinner. Two prominent housing developers approach Amato and provide him with packages that contain information on two sites in the Greenbelt: TACC's "Cherrywood" site in the Duffins Rouge Agricultural Preserve and a parcel in King Township owned by Michael Rice's Green Lane Bathurst LP. Shortly thereafter, one of the developers provides Amato with additional information plus information related to a Fieldgate Homes site in Hamilton and two more TACC sites, in Richmond Hill and Vaughan. These five sites ultimately make up 92 per cent of all land removed from the Greenbelt in 2022.
  • Sept. 15: The sale of the King Township site is finalized and the title is transferred to the housing developer. The final sale price is $80 million. 
  • Sept. 16: Amato informs the Housing ministry that the government wants to consult on removing lands from the Greenbelt using a site-specific approach. The Housing ministry indicates that Amato communicates three priority sites for removal from the Greenbelt: Cherrywood, the Fieldgate Homes site and the King Township site.
  • Sept. 25: The premier’s daughter’s wedding. News media reports that developers attend the wedding. Photographs of the seating arrangements for the wedding include Shakir Rehmatullah, the developer of three sites in York Region ultimately removed from the Greenbelt.
  • Sept. 27: A law firm sends requests directly to Amato, by email, to have one of those sites — Upper Markham Village — removed from the Greenbelt.
  •  Sept. 29: The same law firm sends a letter to Clark in an email to Amato requesting that a second Markham site associated with Rehmatullah be rezoned through the Official Plan review of York Region.
  • Sept. 29: The same law firm sends another request directly to Amato, by email, to have a third site associated with Rehmatullah, this one in Whitchurch-Stouffville, be removed from the Greenbelt.
  • Oct. 3-5: Greenbelt Project Team is formed. Its six members are non-political public service staff in the Housing ministry.
  • Oct. 6: Amato provides Greenbelt Project Team with hard copy information from packages he received on eight proposed land sites (including Cherrywood and other TACC sites, the Fieldgate site in Hamilton, the King Township site, and two sites associated with Rehmatullah) as well as the initial criteria for removal.
  • Oct. 6-13: Greenbelt Project Team members are required to sign confidentiality agreements. Another site in Markham is identified by the Greenbelt Project Team as a proposed property for removal, as the government has information on it due to a legal case.
  • Oct. 7: Amato receives correspondence addressed to him from the same law firm that corresponded on Sept. 29, regarding the same property in Markham, requesting it be removed from the Greenbelt and does not mention the Official Plan review.
  • Oct. 13-31: Five USB keys are provided to Greenbelt Project Team by the Housing Minister's chief of staff containing information on more sites proposed for removal and additional information about others already being evaluated.
  • Oct. 19: Three additional sites and two more that were not ultimately removed were provided by the Housing deputy chief of staff to Amato. These properties had been assessed through the Official Plan review and were proposed for removal because they are in the Greenbelt.
  • Oct. 24: Municipal elections are held, 11 days before notices related to the changes to the Greenbelt’s boundary are announced. Some municipal councils are sworn in weeks after the election, limiting their ability to provide comments on the plan by Dec. 4, 2022, when the consultation period ended.
  • Oct. 25: The Housing ministry posts a proposal notice on the Environmental Registry to revoke the Central Pickering Development Plan, a provincial land-use plan that established policies for development in a designated area in Central Pickering as well as protecting the Duffins Rouge Agricultural Preserve from development.
  • Oct. 26: The chair of Greenbelt Council resigns, replaced by Hazel McCallion.
  • Oct. 26: Clark is briefed in person by ministry staff and Amato on the proposed removal of land sites from the Greenbelt.
  • Oct. 27: Housing ministry staff briefs staff in the premier's office and cabinet office on proposed removal of land sites from the Greenbelt, but the premier is not present.
  • Oct. 31: Housing ministry staff provide a second briefing to the premier's office and cabinet office on Greenbelt Project, and the premier is not present.
  • Nov. 1: Housing staff brief Clark and then-Associate Minister of Housing Michael Parsa on the proposed removal of land sites from the Greenbelt.
  • Nov. 1: The premier is briefed by political staff on the proposed removal of land sites from the Greenbelt.
  • Nov. 2: Cabinet approves the Housing ministry's proposal to begin a public consultation process to amend the Greenbelt. (Cabinet members receive proposal material shortly before the cabinet meeting.)
  • Nov. 3: Property owners/developers are notified their land is being proposed for removal from the Greenbelt.
  • Nov. 4: Housing ministry staff provide a briefing on Greenbelt land removal to the PC caucus.
  • Nov. 4: The Housing ministry posts four proposal notices on the Environmental Registry and initiates a 30-day public consultation period to amend the Greenbelt by removing or re-designating 15 sites (including the Duffins Rouge Agricultural Preserve in Pickering), adding or expanding 13 Urban River Valleys and adding a portion of the Paris Galt Moraine.
  • Nov. 4: Mayors of affected municipalities are notified lands in their jurisdictions are being proposed for removal from the Greenbelt.
  • Nov. 7: Briefing on the Greenbelt Project is provided to the recently appointed Greenbelt Council.
  • Nov. 16: Duffins Rouge Agricultural Preserve Repeal Act, 2022 is introduced in the legislature. The proposed act removes additional protection from development for the majority of the area affected by the proposed Greenbelt amendments.
  • Nov. 22: Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry posts an exception notice on the Environmental Registry exempting the Duffins Rouge Agricultural Preserve Repeal Act, 2022 from the public consultation process, citing reliance on the ongoing public consultation for proposed Greenbelt amendments.
  • Nov. 28: Legislature passes Bill 23, the More Homes Built Faster Act, 2022, which makes significant changes to the Planning Act, the Conservation Authorities Act, the Ontario Heritage Act and the Ontario Land Tribunal Act to support the implementation of the government’s housing strategy.
  • Nov. 28: Member of Provincial Parliament requests Integrity Commissioner of Ontario investigate as to whether Clark and the premier have contravened the Members’ Integrity Act.
  • Dec. 4: During the 30-day public consultation period from Nov. 4 to Dec. 4, 2022, the Housing ministry receives over 35,000 responses, overwhelmingly in opposition to any removals or land swaps in the Greenbelt.
  • Dec. 8: Legislature passes the Duffins Rouge Agricultural Preserve Repeal Act, 2022.
  • Dec. 12: The Housing minister and premier's office are briefed by the ministry staff on the Greenbelt Project.
  • Dec. 14: Housing Ministry files O. Reg. 567/22 under the Greenbelt Act, 2005 and O. Reg. 568/22 under the Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Act, 2001, implementing the Ministry’s proposed Greenbelt boundary changes, and O. Reg. 566/22, revoking Minister’s Zoning Order 154/03, which had protected the Duffins Rouge Agricultural Preserve from development, all of which were approved by the Cabinet earlier that day. The amendments remove approximately 7,400 acres from 15 areas of land, while adding approximately 9,400 acres of land elsewhere. No changes are made to the proposal to address the public’s concerns.
  • Dec. 14: On the recommendation of Clark, cabinet revokes the Central Pickering Development Plan.
  • Dec. 15: The lieutenant-governor proclaims the Duffins Rouge Agricultural Preserve Repeal Act, 2022 in force, repealing the Duffins Rouge Agricultural Preserve Act, 2005.
  • Dec. 21: Housing Ministry posts decision notices on the Environmental Registry to notify the public of its decision to approve the 2022 Greenbelt changes, with no revisions, following the consultation period.
  • Jan. 11: Auditor General of Ontario receives a joint letter from all three Ontario opposition party leaders requesting a value-for-money audit and an assessment of the financial and environmental impacts of the government’s decision to remove lands from the Greenbelt.
  • Jan. 18: Auditor General of Ontario announces her office will conduct a value-for-money audit into the financial and environmental impacts of the recent Greenbelt changes.
  • Jan. 18: In submissions to the Integrity Commissioner of Ontario (as noted in the Office of the Integrity Commissioner’s Jan. 18, 2023, report), the Housing Minister and Premier “advised that the selection of the affected lands was made by public servants who were subject to an enhanced confidentiality protocol and that the minister was briefed and accepted their proposal only a few days before he presented it to Cabinet and the government made its announcement shortly thereafter.”
  • Jan. 18: Integrity Commissioner of Ontario initiates an investigation based on the Nov. 28 MPP complaint.
  • March 9: Regional Planning Commissioners of Ontario (RPCO) releases a report indicating Ontario’s municipalities already have 85 per cent of the 1.5 million housing units in their approval pipelines. The report states that “RPCO continues to not support in principle the removal of lands from the Greenbelt as a necessary step to address Ontario’s housing needs.”
  • March 16: Office of the Integrity Commissioner launches an investigation as to whether the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing contravened sections 2 and 3 of the Members’ Integrity Act, 1994 with respect to the decision to allow development on lands in the Greenbelt and Duffins Rouge Agricultural Preserve.
  • April 6: The government's new housing Bill 97, the Helping Homebuyers, Protecting Tenants Act, is tabled to make amendments to several acts.
  • April 6: The government’s new housing bill has its first reading in the legislature and receives royal assent on June 8. 
  • June 8: Bill 97 receives royal assent. It amends the Planning Act, giving the Housing minister the power to require a landowner to enter into an agreement with the minister or a municipality in matters where the Provincial Land and Development Facilitator has been directed by the minister to advise, make recommendations or perform any other functions with respect to the land. It also amends the Planning Act to give the Housing minister the power to exempt lands subject to Minister's Zoning Orders from complying with provincial policies and Official Plans where other planning approvals are applied for, such as subdivision plans.