Thread by @downtownrob88

Because balancing growth and the environment is difficult for politicians, it doesn’t mean they don't deal with the issue – unless you're Doug Ford.

So when Doug needs a job done, he goes to his (non) arm's-length appointees on any number of agencies, boards and commissions. /2

Case in point: the post of chair of the Niagara Escarpment Commission is manned by a politician familiar to those who watched Conservative PM Stephen Harper's attempted makeover of Canada from 2006 to 2015. Rob Nicholson, now 70, an inner-circle Harper minister who handled.../3

..portfolios having no apparent ties to the environment, (in National Defence, Justice and Foreign Affairs), now makes decisions impacting a UN-designated biosphere in Ontario.

The appointment by Ford of Nicholson on March 2022 is par for the course: friends and associates.../4

..take positions of authority in Ontario without proper regard to their qualifications. Add in massive pay hikes and Ford has guaranteed loyalty.

A worthy postscript to Nicholson's time as head at Foreign Affairs was his "service" was cut short when he was rejected by voters../5

.. in October 2015 due to his work in raising funds for then-Senator Mike Duffy in an expense-padding scandal.

All too common, these unqualified or unsuitable decision makers stand in opposition to the public consensus, resulting in jarring decisions such as Ford appointees.../6

...at the Alcohol and Gaming Commission granting beverage liquor licences to 11 Ontario 7-Eleven stores – or disastrous if their rulings include rejection of climate change mitigation policies in the Escarpment/Greenbelt.

Ontarians know that before he became premier in... /7

..June 2018, Ford offered up in the strongest possible terms that he would not remove any land from the Greenbelt.

“There have been a lot of voices saying that they don’t want to touch the Greenbelt,” Ford said, pre-election. “I govern through the people, I don't ..." /8

..govern through government. The people have spoken – we won’t touch the Greenbelt."

Once elected, the serial liar cut the mic on green initiatives, slow-playing a wide-ranging dismantling of environmental regulations across Ontario’s million square kilometres, benefiting.../9

..from a wide berth carved out for him by his libertarian allies in the MSM conglomerate.

With little consultation and no mention during the last ON election campaign of a pending attack on the Greenbelt, the agri-food sector and municipal governments, controversial.../10

..Bill 23 is the most narrow-minded and misguided initiatives in Ontario’s history.

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry is responsible for administering the Niagara Escarpment Planning and Development Act, while the Niagara Escarpment Commission is tasked with.../11

..implementing the Niagara Escarpment Plan.

But the Escarpment is increasingly under threat without the conservation efforts that are needed, experts say, because Ford's Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry provides insufficient financial and staffing resources... /12

..to the Commission to ensure that the Plan is effectively implemented.

Coincidentally, Ford's takedown of the Wynne Liberals in 2018 was aided by $460,000 in corporate donations from a group of housing developers to whom payback is suspected to be opening up thousands.../13

..of acres of Greenbelt along Hwy 413 and the Bradford Bypass to residential housing.

#CLUSTERFORD

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