Ontario's auditor general found a handful of developers stood to make a windfall of Can$8 billion after protected lands were removed from Toronto's so-called Greenbelt last year -- a move that has sparked scrutiny by federal police.
The government of Doug Ford, Ontario province's conservative leader, opened the approximately 3,000 hectares (7,400 acres) to build some 50,000 homes to contribute to the goal of adding 1.5 million new residences in Ontario by 2031.
The handling of the affair led to the resignation of Ford's housing minister Steve Clark on Monday.
"There's going to be a complete review from top to bottom," an embattled Ford told a news conference.
He acknowledged that the process for removing the protected lands from Toronto's Greenbelt "could and should have been better."
But he said the review would not derail talks with developers planning to build homes on the parcels.
And he held up the possibility of hundreds of additional parcels of land being removed from the Greenbelt at the request of developers and municipalities.
The Greenbelt, a horseshoe-shaped ring of fertile farmlands, forests and wetlands along the shores of Lake Ontario, comprises some 810,000 hectares.
A mix of private and public land, it has been a protected area since 2005 in an effort to limit urban sprawl.
| Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters |
| Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters |
