Paul Skafel

[Raghu Venugopal MD @raghu_venugopal]

Mr. Poilievre may not remember 54,498 Canadians died from COVID-19. I do. No one likes mandates, but government acted with expert advice to save lives. Mr. Poilievre instead supported the Ottawa occupation. Most Canadians got vaccinated. Vaccines worked.

https://t.co/WOEx1R8XqJ

[Colin D'Mello | Global News @ColinDMello]

EXCLUSIVE: When Ontario Premier Doug Ford first took office in 2018, his first environmental minister was given a simple yet central task: get climate legislation out of the way of business.

Here's Ford's environmental mandate.

https://t.co/Ooa4WWbbf6

#ONpoli

[Jennifer Keesmaat @jen_keesmaat]

Yes, it’s true that a review of the Greenbelt is required in legislation every 10 years.

And it is true that the new Housing Minister announced this week that they are going to advance this review earlier than required, as a result of the #GreenbeltScandal, and party friends & donors asking for more land to be removed from Greenbelt protections.

This is the problem: we already know this isn’t necessary.

We are building out existing land approved for new housing at lower densities than expected, and at a slower pace than expected. Land isn’t the issue.

The total unbuilt land available for development is now roughly 59,000 ha (590 km2).

Even if residents assigned by the Ontario government to the GTHA's future suburbs were housed at the modest densities of successful low-rise GTHA neighborhoods, like Trinity Bellwoods or Junction-Wallace Emerson, they would only consume approximately 15,000 ha (150km2) of land through 2051.

Removing land from the Greenbelt today is simply a long-term land speculation play. We have land adjacent to serviced areas where we can build new suburbs, if so desired.

This review is politically motivated, and ought to be stopped. This government lacks the credibility to touch the Greenbelt, and should first make amends by returning land wrongly removed.

[Asif Hossain @asifintoronto]

Main reason @fordnation spent tens of millions in taxpayer dollars to hide his ministers’ mandate letters was because he failed to lower hospital wait times, make hydro cheaper, and hold his own government accountable. It’s not a scandal, but it’s a long list of broken promises.

[Colin D'Mello | Global News @ColinDMello]

Oh wow.
CBC News reports that the Ford government has spent 1,672 taxpayer-funded hours to keep the mandate letters secret.

ttps://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/crown-lawyer-hours-ford-mandate-letters-1.6891876?__vfz=medium%3Dsharebar

#onpoli

[Colin D'Mello | Global News @ColinDMello]

The report adds:

"Greenbelts and other environmentally sensitive areas must be protected, and farms provide food and food security. Relying too heavily on undeveloped land would whittle away too much of the already small share of land devoted to agriculture."

#onpoli

[Adam van Koeverden @vankayak]

Every person in Ontario needs to listen to our province’s Auditor General in this video.

It’s corruption in plain sight - Doug Ford is making his friends $8.3 Billion richer while reneging on his promises to protect our Greenbelt, one of Ontario’s greatest natural assets.

[Jennifer Keesmaat @jen_keesmaat]

The great Greenbelt give-a-way.

A handful of developers to reap $8.3 billion in profit from a process rigged by Progressive Conservatives to make them wealthy.

The report makes it clear: these are unserviced lands. Opening them up for development will have no impact on our housing crisis. It will take decades just to get servicing in place.

Further, staff were directed by the Premier's office to ignore environmental or agricultural concerns.

Not shocking, but a confirmation - in writing, and as a result of a comprehensive due diligence process, of what we had suspected over the course of the past 12 months.

What should happen next?

1. Reverse the policy changes and send the developers packing?

2. Should *someone* be stepping down?!

3. Criminal charges? Is this fraud? According to the Criminal Code, "anyone who commits fraud is guilt of an indictable offence and is subject to a prison term."

Curious where this goes - seems like there are two parts: 1) accountability for this mess and 2) preventing the disaster of what has been done from proceeding.

#ProtectOurGreenbelt

https://t.co/4j9rkDP8xu

[Colin D'Mello | Global News @ColinDMello]

BREAKING: Ontario's AG reveals Premier Doug Ford directed Housing Minister Steve Clark to conduct “swaps, expansions, contractions and policy updates” related to the Greenbelt.

Developers then had direct influence over which lands were removed.

#ONpoli
https://t.co/PTBrusACX9

[Greg Henderson OLY, BSc. @Greghenderson1]

This is why we see athletes performing so well. There’s so much shit going on about doping blah blah… we have aero tech/ weight/ and the biggest….fuelling strategies. 130g/h with zero gut problems. Game changer.

[Hon. Thomas A. Lukaszuk @LukaszukAB]

If this doesn’t make you sick, nothing will.

https://t.co/V6mcxNNTTF

#cdnpoli #ableg

[Ontario Nurses' Association @ontarionurses]

ERs in places like Almonte, Chesley and Carleton Place are closing temporarily and Minden's ER has permanently closed. Meanwhile @fordnation found millions for the ER closest to his cottage. All communities deserve access to health care. #onpoli #onhealth https://t.co/S7sdJn5Mrf

[alan drummond @alandrummond2]

I'm not blowing any whistle. I'm screaming from the rooftops. This has to stop. Time to get rid of the ineffectual Minister of Health.

[Asif Hossain @asifintoronto]

Ontario taxpayers are effectively subsidizing @fordnation’s party in which he will campaign for @marksaunders_TO in the #TorontoMayor race. Not a day goes by where Doug Ford and his team aren’t committing unethical or corrupt acts in broad daylight.

[Dr Sho Jacobs 🇨🇦 @shoshanahjacobs]

Let me be clear: I wouldn’t recommend ANY #HigherEd school in #Ontario right now.

My recommendation is to go East if you can.

@Fordnation has depleted our education system to beyond the tipping point. We won’t recover without a new government that values education

[Bruce Arthur @bruce_arthur]

The thing is, I am not sure any mayor is up to the challenges facing the city, and I am not convinced Chow is going to be a good mayor, but as @jm_mcgrath said, man, conservatives pretending conservatives didn't create this mess has been wild

[Colin D'Mello | Global News @ColinDMello]

NEW: Premier Ford targets Bonnie Crombie for staying on as Mississauga Mayor while running for Ontario Liberal leader.

There are, in fact, plenty of examples of running while keeping a taxpayer funded day job including: Doug Ford and Rob Ford.

#onpoli

https://t.co/G4E5xg5Rsv

[Michael Warner @drmwarner]

Creating a parallel, for-profit system will siphon away HCWs to investor-backed private enterprises.

Their primary goal is to provide shareholders & limited partners with a return on their investment .

This is not a good deal for taxpayers & will worsen the staffing crisis.

[Shannon Watts @shannonrwatts]

If more guns and fewer gun laws made Texas safer, it would be the safest state in the US. Instead, it has rising rates of gun suicide and homicide, and is home to four of the nation’s 10 deadliest mass shootings.