Speaker, the statement by the member for York North, the former parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Housing, has clarified only part of the matter, namely that he was the person who made the telephone call. I had a chance to look at this situation in Vaughan yesterday, and based on the number of lots the town would allow on these 1,000 acres - he said 1,300 - the sale price per lot would have to be in the neighbourhood of $400,000 to $450,000, excluding any house. I will table the list of land owners, with the size of their holdings, with the Speaker.Īnother thing I want to comment on is the Leader of the Opposition's claim that the developers, whoever they are, stand to make $88 million profit. This whole matter is certainly straightforward from my point of view. Webb to fight the amendment, because they wanted their lands included to be rezoned for urban development. His family was one of the original group that retained Mr. He has since sold all his property and moved away. One of those who signed the petition, Mr. Four of the petitioners are still farming. I made it my business to get a copy of that petition and discovered several things. Riddell) stated a petition signed by 30 farmers had been sent to the Ontario Municipal Board, saying their lands were highly suited for agriculture. Last Friday the member for Huron-Middlesex (Mr. I did not rise on this point earlier this week because I wanted to check out some of the comments that had been made in recent days. Clearly, in Vaughan township, we are all interested in amendment 95. The council member who moved the resolution was Councillor Jan Poot, a former federal Liberal candidate. On Monday night, June 1, the council of the town of Vaughan passed another motion reaffirming its support of amendment 95. I am sure the Leader of the Opposition would not have got involved in the fruit land situation on behalf of his own municipality if he felt differently.įurther, the town of Vaughan remains committed to its position.
I have no intention, and I repeat this, I have no intention of changing, nor do I suspect any other member in this House will change, at least if he wants to be re-elected. I was asked to intercede on behalf of constituents and one of my municipalities, and I did so.Īs the Minister of Housing said the other day, this is the role of a member of the provincial parliament, a job I have held for almost 14 years. I feel I represented my constituency in the best way possible. I do not feel I acted incorrectly in this matter. They in turn asked me to see whether a review could be undertaken.Īs the member for York North, I then contacted the Ministry of Agriculture and Food and asked whether the ministry's position could be reconsidered. I was assured by Mayor Garnet Williams and Councillor David Fraser, who is chairman of the York regional planning committee, that the municipality fully supported the Vaughan amendment and the position of the land owners. They told me they were convinced the lands were not of good agricultural quality and asked that I support their request to have the Ministry of Agriculture and Food's position re-examined. Ross Hitch, QC, whom I am sure the member knows.
Urbano Battero, who owns 86 acres his planning consultant, Mr. There is certainly no massive land assembly and no big-name developer. These holdings range in size from nine acres to 100 acres. I have been doing some research on all of this and want to state for the record that there are exactly 30 land owners in the area affected by the amendment. The member for Hamilton West has implied to the press and here in the House that there is some major developer pulling strings behind the scenes. The person who contacted the Ministry of Agriculture and Food supporting the town of Vaughan was the member representing Vaughan. I do not believe any of us here knows exactly what the member thinks. Smith) has been hunting for the name of the mysterious caller who he believes is behind whatever it is he thinks happened. For the past two or three days the member for Hamilton West (Mr. It seems he feels there is some kind of a hidden scandal, to use his own words. Bennett) about the Vaughan official plan amendment 95. Smith) has been questioning the ministers of Agriculture and Food (Mr.
Speaker, I would like to rise on a point of privilege.įor several weeks now the Leader of the Opposition (Mr.
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