Ford vowed to open Greenbelt

This is clearly a bogus statement. On April 30, 2018, Ford promised publicly — and it was reported in the Star — that he would “open a big chunk” of protected GTHA farmland to build housing if the Progressive Conservatives won the June 7 election.

He has handed huge contracts on the subway lines to those he favours. And it is clear that his supporters expected him to deliver.

Promises made, promises kept. Omerta. And it is a definitive illustration of why we need to have a professional, independent free press. Tom McElroy, Toronto

Build affordable houses in GTA not on the Greenbelt

Ontario Premier Doug Ford is wrong when he claims we need to build housing on protected land to meet housing demand.

We need to build more affordable houses within the GTA by encouraging developers to build smaller high density housing.

In my neighbourhood of modest bungalows, every time a house is sold, it is demolished and a monster house built. Why not replace with semi-detached houses? Alan Price, Oakville

Both the Greenbelt and our elders are worth saving

It is good to see the provincial auditor and integrity commissioner investigating the Ford government’s opening of the Greenbelt to specific developers.

Will there be similar investigations of why the Ford government has given thousands of additional nursing home beds to the tune of $6 billion in public funding to longterm-care companies that had to have their facilities managed by hospitals and the military during the pandemic?

And will what led to the government also shielding these companies from class action negligence suits by raising the legal bar for families seeking redress for the loss of more than 4,500 loved ones also be investigated?

It would seem to be in the public interest that the undue influence of these long-term-care companies and Ford government-associated lobbyists hired by them also require a thorough examination.

The Greenbelt and elders in this province are both worth saving from monied interests with deep pockets and too much influence on public policy. Patricia Spindel, Seniors for Social Action Ontario, Ajax

Backwards we go, Ontario! Greenbelt land swap not leaked to builders, Ford says, Jan. 21

Doug Ford looks out his window, sees “an empty field” to be paved over to ease “the housing crisis” (and enrich his land speculators).

I look out the same window, and I see trees and wetlands that clean our air, filter the water, provide habitat for the creatures with whom we share this planet, a place to grow our food, and an essential tool to save us from the climate crisis. There’s no right or wrong way of looking at this problem, but there is a yesterday vs. tomorrow vision for Ontario.

Everywhere I turn, I see Ford’s backward looking fiascos: privatizing health care (and freezing the salaries of health-care workers who fought to save our lives during a pandemic), building unneeded highways, cancelling green energy projects, gifting public parkland to a private consortium to build a hoity-toity spa for the rich, and even wanting to plunk a transit station in the middle of a park, just because “there are no structures there.”

Ontario’s motto: “A place to grow” should be changed to “Backwards we go.” Brigitte Nowak, Toronto

Ford doesn’t understand value of the Greenbelt Greenbelt land swap not leaked to builders, Ford says, Jan. 21

Now we know the real value that Premier Doug Ford places on the Greenbelt. He says, “It’s not just in the middle of some marsh or something” and “On the other side of the road, you have an empty field.” May I remind the premier that “some marsh” may be a provincially significant wetland and that that’s not an “empty field” — it’s likely prime farmland.

Listen to the people McCallion calls Ford decision ‘brave,’ Jan. 20

The recently appointed chair of the Greenbelt Council, Hazel McCallion, is as disgusting as Doug Ford.

Her advocacy of opening up the Greenbelt to housing development contradicts the wishes of the majority of the citizens of this province. We don’t want either of you telling us your agenda since you are deaf to ours. Frances Botham, Huntsville

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May I remind the premier that ‘some marsh’ may be a provincially significant wetland and that that’s not an ‘empty field’ — it’s likely prime farmland. L I NDA PI M, INGLEWOOD