Ontario housing minister dodges questions about Greenbelt development

Ontario’s new Housing Minister Paul Calandra held his second news conference in as many days Thursday morning, where he dodged questions about Greenbelt development while reiterating his commitment to meeting provincial building targets.

Calandra said that as minister, he will prioritize the Ford government’s goal of building 1.5 million new homes across the province by 2031, which was one of a number of recommendations put forward in the Ontario Housing Affordability Task Force report, released in 2022.

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Despite the report saying that those building targets can be met without removing any land from the Greenbelt, Calandra said that at the time, the recommendations didn’t take into account the population growth that the province would see in the coming years.

“The task force’s report did not at the time contemplate the enormous amount of growth that the province was going to see, not only from outside of the country but also from other parts of Canada,” he said.

“We are seeing tremendous growth in the province of Ontario, this is a very exciting and encouraging time for the people of this province. We need those 1.5 million homes.”

Calandra said his government will prioritize housing development in areas along transit routes and where there is existing infrastructure, which could mean going ahead with construction on Greenbelt lands, following a review.

He told reporters on Wednesday that on his first full day in office, he asked his Deputy Minister of Housing to put in place a “fulsome” review of the process in which the lands were chosen to be removed from the protected region.

In tandem with the review, Calandra said a provincial facilitator is currently negotiating community benefits with local governments – work that he hopes will be done by the end of the year, after which he committed to making its results public.

When asked plainly on Thursday if the province needs to build on the Greenbelt to meet its targets, Calandra said proposed development of the protected lands would go ahead if certain standards are met.

“Do we need to build on the Greenbelt? Well we’re moving forward with building on the Greenbelt if, as I said yesterday, after the facilitator has completed her work, it meets the standards that we’ll be setting with respect to the full Greenbelt review then we will move forward with that,” he said.

“If it doesn’t, the land will be returned back to the Greenbelt.”

Calandra was also asked if the Ford government was not committed to the concept of a permanently protected Greenbelt, to which he replied, “Just the opposite.”

“To make that suggestion that we don’t care is absolutely completely false, but what we are looking at is ensuring that we have land available in areas where we have made significant contributions to infrastructure,” he said.

“We have to build where the resources are.”

Calandra said on Wednesday that his ordered review of the Greenbelt process could entail the removal or the addition of protected lands, but the minister didn’t offer any specifics on how the government will determine which areas will ultimately be protected.

Calandra says that going forward, the provincial government will continue working to “bring municipalities on board” in order to meet housing targets that he says he “won’t be diverted” from.

“We’re going to work together so that we meet those recommendation goals, so that we can meet our goal of 1.5 million homes, and we won’t be strayed on that,” Calandra said.

“I think we can do both. We can protect our natural heritage while also meeting our targets.”

With files from CTV News Toronto's Abby O'Brien.