RCMP confirms it is looking into Doug Ford’s Greenbelt changes

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It’s not the kind of news that Premier Doug Ford wanted to hear over his Tim Hortons breakfast sandwich.

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The Ontario Provincial Police have asked the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to look into complaints of wrongdoing by the Ford government on the Greenbelt file.

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“The OPP has received a number of inquiries regarding an investigation into the Greenbelt,” the OPP said in an early Wednesday news release.

“To avoid any potential perceived conflict of interest, the OPP referred this matter to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).”

Beyond that, the OPP said it wouldn’t be fair to comment further.

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Except, there is one point of clarification that must be made. Is there a criminal investigation into the Greenbelt or are the police just doing due diligence in sorting through complaints made by the public?

The Ford government is trying to downplay the idea that there is an active investigation even though that word is used in the OPP news release. A request for clarification on exactly what was happening wasn’t immediately answered by the OPP.

The RCMP is using the term “investigation.”

“The RCMP can confirm that we received a referral from the OPP to investigate irregularities in the disposition of the Greenbelt surrounding Toronto,” the RCMP said, adding they are reviewing the files shared by the OPP.

“As the investigation is in its infancy and is ongoing, we decline to offer any further comments.”

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To the hyper partisans on either side, this is a distinction without a difference. Ford’s supporters will keep backing him, his opponents will continue to call for him to be locked up on dreamt-up charges of corruption.

The majority of Ontario residents will shrug their shoulders, go about their daily lives and wait for a report from the police. Given that it is the RCMP now on the file, we could be waiting a long time if their federal work is anything to go by.

In the SNC Lavalin case, it took four years for the Mounties to say “the RCMP determined that there was insufficient evidence to substantiate a criminal offence and the file was concluded.” In that case there were emails, text messages, public testimony and a cabinet resignation over the PM pressuring the country’s top lawyer to cut a deal in a bribery and corruption case.

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If the Mounties couldn’t find sufficient evidence to lay charges in that case, fat chance they will find evidence in this one.

What continues to drive a lot of anger and criticism of Ford’s Greenbelt decision is the idea that this was public land that he gave away to friends or sold off cheap to developer buddies. When the federal government established the Greenbelt in Ottawa in the 1950s, they expropriated the land and paid for it, making it public land.

When the McGuinty government established the Greenbelt in southern Ontario, they didn’t buy up the land, considering that to be too expensive. Instead, they passed legislation forbidding development, which immediately depressed land values.

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The land Ford took out of the Greenbelt was privately owned land that, in most cases, both the developers and the local municipal government had spent decades lobbying the province to allow development to occur on. There was no giveaway, no sell-off of public assets as opposition parties and some media continue to refer to it as.

This was a policy decision to allow development on what had been protected lands, just as the previous Wynne government allowed to happen without fanfare or a police investigation 17 times. For those screaming that the lands instantly became more valuable and this is somehow criminal, somehow the government enriching their friends, then you have to accept the flipside.

The flipside would be that the McGuinty government’s decision to ban development on this land amounted to theft because the value of the land immediately plummeted.

The Greenbelt saga continues to be an issue of optics for the government and now, with the announcement of the RCMP getting involved, the optics just got much worse even if their legal standing remains solid.

My warning to anyone waiting on charges, don’t hold your breath.

blilley@postmedia.com

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