Ford's Toasty Trousers & the Greenbelt

 

 “Again, you have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but carry out the vows you have made to the Lord.’  But I say to you: Do not swear at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black.  Let your word be ‘Yes, Yes’ or ‘No, No’; anything more than this comes from the evil one. Matthew 5: 33-37 NRSVue

 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have stripped off the old self with its practices and have clothed yourselves with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator. Colossians 3:9-10 NRSVue

So, Ontario's fearless --or is that feckless? -- premier is a firefighter, running toward his developer cronies to make sure that they make millions from a Greenbelt land-grab. Isn't that what he said after the scathingly critical report of the Auditor General, Bonnie Lysyk, regarding removing protections on portions of the Greenbelt?

 We've seen in polls that the majority of Ontarians rejected this decision and figured it was sketchy, so there won't be many who are surprised by the findings of the report. Still Premier Ford is trying to spin the "process" as a noble effort to provide housing for those poor souls who desparately need million-dollar-plus homes in suburbia. 

                                                             Greenbelt Graphic from the Narwhal 

There are so many things that just stink about the way the Conservatives have addressed this but for me the blatant lying causes me to hold my substantial proboscis more than just about anything else. This may seem to be a strong statement, but how else do we characterize saying one thing and then doing another?

This afternoon, Doug Ford announced that after consultation with the people of Ontario, an Ontario PC Government would maintain the Greenbelt in its entirety. “I looked at it as making sure we have more affordable housing,” said Ford. “There have been a lot of voices saying that they don’t want to touch the Greenbelt. I govern through the people, I don’t govern through government.”

“The people have spoken – we won’t touch the greenbelt. Very simple. That’s it, the people have spoken. I’m going to listen to them, they don’t want me to touch the greenbelt, we won’t touch the greenbelt. Simple as that.”

Ontario Progessive Conservative website 2018

Now we're hearing that the preferential relationship with developers which various government minion-sters denied is real. 

Since Ford reversed his promise he went on the declare the Greenbelt a scam (May 2023) even though the designation of protected areas was an actual process with the best interests of all Ontarians at heart. 

I can't recall an occasion when Ford claimed to be Christian, but surely the notion of  "Let your word be ‘Yes, Yes’ or ‘No, No’" should be universally respected. When I was a kid we would call out fibs with "liar, liar, pants on fire" which may be the source of confusion for Premier Ford. There is a difference between having toasty trousers and being a first responder. 

If someone can prove me wrong -- I wish I was --I will gladly acknowledge my mistake, but I figure I'm safe. 

Thank you Ms. Lysyk for your honest and factual appraisal. When is the next election?