Alrighty, now that my brain is back on, I wanted to quickly note some things from the AG's Greenbelt report.

First: we now know the Premier's statement here, that his office did not discuss removing land from the Greenbelt last summer, was false
thenarwhal.ca/ontario-greenb… Ford said: "I want to categorically say no. It wasn’t discussed."

The AG found Ford ordered the Housing Minister in a June 29, 2022 mandate letter to look at Greenbelt reductions.

Two years ago today, @njaved, Steve Buist and I published our investigation into Highway 413, titled "Friends with Benefits."

At the time I thought it was a one-off. Obviously, I was wrong about that 🧵
thestar.com/news/investiga… A month after we published, the federal government decided to subject the 413 to the impact assessment process. A big delay at least, a project-killer at most.

It hasn't really advanced since. But we have learned more about the environmental impact:
thenarwhal.ca/highway-413-en…

Pretty much everything @fordnation just said about the Greenbelt at the presser just now is false or misleading. Quick fact checking thread. #onpoli Ford said the former Liberal government carved up the Greenbelt 17 times. They did, the changes amounted to 370 acres, and it was part of a scheduled review of Greenbelt boundaries.

Ford carved up 7,400 acres.

Why would anyone spend millions on Greenbelt land that can't be built on?

Six developers did since 2018 — now, their land is set to be taken out of the Greenbelt.

Lucky bet? Or did they know?

A ✨Starwhal✨ investigation by me, @njaved and @BKennedyStar
thenarwhal.ca/ford-ontario-g… Together, @thenarwhalca and @TorontoStar analyzed land holdings in the 15 areas of Greenbelt set to be opened for development.

We found eight of those areas included properties bought since Doug Ford was recorded at a private event saying he'd open a "big chunk" of Greenbelt.

BREAKING: the Ontario government has decided to override Hamilton’s decision not to expand urban boundaries. It will now compel the city to do so, something @SteveClarkPC has been threatening to do for months
ero.ontario.ca/notice/019-5732 This could have implications for other municipalities who picked up on the anti-sprawl movement, like Halton.

@fatimabsyed broke down the context of this really well earlier this year:
thenarwhal.ca/southern-ontar…

Our bureau is taking some time to read over the proposal to open up Greenbelt land for development and come back with some analysis for you next week. (A late Friday afternoon news drop isn't the best recipe for the level of detail we want to give you!)

Until then, read this:

https://twitter.com/thenarwhalca/status/1588623599405268992

enviro nerds, you can also read (and provide your feedback on) the technical details of the government's plans here. but promise we'll be back to break it down soon.
ero.ontario.ca/notice/019-6217
ero.ontario.ca/notice/019-6216
ero.ontario.ca/notice/019-6218

#breaking scoop from me. I know everything is happening in #onpoli, but this is huge: the protected Duffins Creek wetland that was a flashpoint over development in 2021 has allegedly been damaged.

90 per cent of it has been cleared/tilled, says @TRCA_HQ
thenarwhal.ca/ontario-duffin… The TRCA can't confirm who did the alleged damage. The developer that previously pushed to build the wetland is saying it was done by farmers, who they did not identify.

I am once again asking male journalists to stop claiming that if only people had known that a politician was accused of sexual misconduct against 19-year-old instead of an 18-year-old, it totally would have been OK and that politician would have been premier Here are the facts:
- that wasn't the only allegation in the story
- the only detail that was retracted was the alleged victim's age — not the alleged events themselves
- those weren't even the only allegations. One MPP had reported several others:
globalnews.ca/news/3988942/l…

#BREAKING: @OntarioAuditor has released five reports on the state of the environment under Doug Ford, and they're absolutely blistering.

Full reports at the link, some highlights in the thread below. #onpoli
auditor.on.ca The first report has strong language: AG Bonnie Lysyk finds the province has "deliberately ignored" the public's right to be consulted on environmental decisions, consistently for three years. She specifically points to the ministries of the environment and municipal affairs.

From the front page of today's @TorontoStar:
A months-in-the-making Torstar/National Observer investigation into a pattern of secrecy in the Ford government's rush to build the Bradford Bypass.

By @SheilaWang7 and me! #onpoli 🧵
thestar.com/news/investiga… The Bradford Bypass would run through Simcoe County and York Region, connecting Highways 400 and 404.

It's a similar, albeit shorter project to its cousin, the 413. But it hasn't gotten as much attention. We thought it was time to fix that.

BREAKING: The federal government has decided it will step in and take over the environmental assessment of the Ford government's Highway 413 project.

This is huge news. Many believe this decision will effectively kill the project as the fed EA is much more rigorous. #onpoli Federal Environment Minister @JonathanWNV has decided not to do the same for the Bradford Bypass, the other controversial Ford government highway project. That will remain in Ontario's hands. #onpoli

THREAD: The Ford government handed down six ministerial zoning orders (MZOs) last night. I did some quick analysis today, and I found half override environmental concerns.

All three benefit the same developer: Flato. Their founder is a Ford donor #onpoli
nationalobserver.com/2021/03/09/new… Two of the new MZOs apply to lands in Markham that are close to the Greenbelt. They're not protected under the GB, but too much development there can degrade GB lands.

NEW: Juicy stuff from @OntarioNDP in question period about the Durham Live MZO. The Apostolopoulos family — which owns Triple Group, the developer behind Durham Live — donated nearly $5000 to the PCs days before gov introduced a bill to approve the project, NDP point out. #onpoli In response, the PCs point out that the same developers have donated to the Liberals. That's true, but it was prior to the PCs forming government — developers have donated to the PCs since then.

Update to the update: it’s been three months since I ‘recovered’ from covid, and my ability to exercise is slowly coming back. But it feels like I’m starting from scratch, which is weird for someone like me who’s always been very active!

https://twitter.com/EmmaMci/status/1346126279272226821

Things I can do now that I couldn’t in January:
- long walks without feeling exhausted after
- up to 45 min bike rides with hills (but afterwards I’ll have a headache and heavy fatigue)
- 5 min of biking as fast as I can (will be extremely sore for days after)

Update: It's been a month since I was released from covid isolation, and lest anyone think this virus wasn't serious, let me assure you: I am still a long way from my former self (thread)

https://twitter.com/EmmaMci/status/1337043885353295881

Disclaimer: I don't think I count as a long-hauler since it's only been a month for me, and I know a lot of folks have it worse. I don't want sympathy, just sharing so folks understand how serious this can be.

BREAKING: Six more members of the Greenbelt Council have resigned. #onpoli

https://twitter.com/emmamci/status/1335346506765922309

Here are three of the six resignation letters.

A Saturday evening #onpoli shocker: the chair of Doug Ford’s Greenbelt Council, former PC MP David Crombie, has resigned over changes to conservation authorities. Calls them “disastrous, and “high-level bombing” that “needs to be resisted.” Crombie, who is also a former mayor of Toronto, says the changes will stifle or shut down public debate and “cuts out the heart” of watershed planning.

BREAKING: Alberta Energy Minister Sonya Savage says the province's inquiry into an alleged foreign campaign aimed at discrediting AB's energy sector needs more time. They're also reallocating $1 million from the Canadian Energy Centre (war room) budget. #ableg The war room's budget was cut in March:
nationalobserver.com/2020/03/31/new…

The hereditary chiefs say the gov didn't properly consider this record, and that they didn't consider the links between resource extraction and violence against Indigenous women, girls and 2S people. This relates to a call to action from the MMIWG inquiry nationalobserver.com/2017/09/21/new… In response, the BC EAO makes a remarkable argument: that it did consider those things but isn't obliged to give the Wet'suwet'en, whose unceded traditional territory this runs through, a full explanation of its reasoning.

THREAD: So, a little while ago, @RVAwonk and I saw a tweet that baffled us. That's right folks, I'm talking about that time Theo Fleury said @gmbutts is sitting on $23 million. Which is extremely false! So where did it come from? nationalobserver.com/2019/07/16/new… #cdnpoli One thing was clear right away: this false info didn't start with Theo. He was just the most prominent person to tweet about it. As far as we could tell, it originated on a fake news/clickbait site in 2016, as part of a listicle about the "richest politicians" in Canada.

Hello #abvote pals! This afternoon, ex-@Alberta_UCP leadership candidate Jeff Callaway (& others) will ask a judge to halt the election commissioner’s investigation into his campaign. I’ll tweet from court, follow along here. Background: thestar.com/calgary/2019/0… #ableg #abpoli The hearing is set for 2 p.m. If you’re wondering what the heck I’m talking about, you can get caught up with the latest on this here: thestar.com/edmonton/2019/… #abvote #abpoli #ableg