NDP MPPs demand investigation into Ottawa's urban boundary expansion

QUEEN'S PARK- Ontario NDP MPPs Joel Harden (Ottawa-Centre) and Chandra Pasma (Ottawa West—Nepean) issued a joint statement after announcing that they will call on the Auditor General to investigate the Ford Conservatives’ decision to expand Ottawa's urban boundary and amendments to municipal official plans last October:

"It is unacceptable that this government unilaterally expanded Ottawa's urban boundary with zero consultation after Ottawa city staff had already declared much of the land added by the province as unsuitable for development," said Harden. “The Conservatives were just exposed in an $8.3 billion Greenbelt corruption scandal where they provided preferential treatment to insider land speculators. Their actions have raised serious concerns for Ottawa residents. The people of this city deserve answers."

"Once again, we have a situation where some developers seem to be the luckiest developers in the world, buying land right before it’s added to the urban boundary," added Pasma. "Given the Auditor-General’s findings with regard to the Greenbelt, we think it’s absolutely essential that this case of lucky insiders cashing in is also investigated.”

One of the properties that the province included in the urban boundary expansion was a 37-hectare farm at 1177 Watters Rd, purchased in August 2021 for $12.7 million. All five directors of 1177 Watters Developments Ltd, the company that owns the property at 1177 Waters Road, donated a combined $12,315 to the Ontario Conservatives in 2021 and 2022. This property had been excluded by the city of Ottawa from its Official Plan due to the provincial Government's own policy to protect valuable farmland and still, this government chose to include it, raising even more concerns.

"Questions of integrity aside, this decision will cost Ottawa taxpayers for years," said Pasma. "The price of building the necessary infrastructure to develop these lands could fall in the billions—a tall price to pay for development that Ottawa's city staff determined unnecessary in our fight against the housing crisis."