Council asks new housing minister to review urban boundary expansion

Ontario's new minister of municipal affairs and housing is being asked to review a controversial expansion of Ottawa's urban boundary carried out under his predecessor's watch.

City council unanimously carried a motion Wednesday askingPaul Calandra to look into the expansion approved last fallby former housing minister Steve Clark, who overrodethe city's initial plan and added hundreds of hectares in a bid as his press secretary said at the time to allow "desperately needed housing to be built."

The request comes several weeks after scathing reports from the province's integrity commissioner and auditor general into how Clark's officehandled a massiveland swap in southern Ontario's Greenbelt.

Theysuggested some private developers improperly benefited from the processandled Clark, the MPP for LeedsGrenvilleThousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, to resign from Premier Doug Ford's cabinet.

• Ford apologizes for 'wrong' Greenbelt decision, vows to reverse land swap
• Steve Clark resigns amid Greenbelt land swap controversy

"I don't buy the argument that we need to trample over wetlands and prime agricultural land and farmland just to meet those single-unit home targets," said Capital Coun. Shawn Menard, who introduced the motion, in an interview withCBC Radio's Ottawa Morning.

"There's plenty of land within the city of Ottawa to intensify."

A 'paternalistic' decision

The urban boundary sets the geographical limit for how far a city can grow. In November 2022, Clark used his powersto expand Ottawa's by 654 hectares, including agricultural landscity staff had previously chosen to leave out.

That decision superseded the expansion council approved in 2020, increasing it by roughly 50 per cent.

• The Ford government has expanded Ottawa's boundary. Here's what's been added

Then-mayor Jim Watson was critical, calling Clark's override"paternalistic" and arguing it would be expensive for taxpayers and cause urban sprawl.

It came amidst a push by the Ford government toaggressively boost housing supply, with Ottawa having a target ofadding 151,000 newhomes in a decade, double the city's own projections.

Menardsaid one particular property a former farm on Watters Road in Orlans was of particular concern.

That farm was not among the properties originallyapproved by the city, largely because it sits onprime agricultural land. In August 2021, it was purchased by a group whose five directors had donated north of $12,000 to the PCs in 2021 and 2022.

Menard singled the farm out in a letter signed by himself and 10 other councillors, calling for the auditor general and the integrity commissioner to look into the "lack of transparency and accountability" around the expansion.

"Given what we know happened with the Greenbelt, we want to make sure that the same thing didn't happen here," he told Ottawa Morning.

"[Though]quite frankly, it appears it did happen here."

'Benefit of the doubt'

While Ottawa's situation is "quite different" than the Greenbelt controversy, Mayor Mark Sutcliffe said he was cognizant that concerns had been raised about some land parcels.

"I'm not a fan of petitioning other levels of government and expressing our opinion, but this is about our official plan. We need to work collaboratively with the provincial government," Sutcliffe said after Wednesday's council meeting.

• Why you should care about theofficial plan vote

"I have a strong working relationship with the provincial government, so it's simply a request to ask them to have another look. And if there's anything that needs to be reviewed, they can do so."

Like his letter, Menard's initial motion also suggested goingstraight to the auditor general andthe integrity commissioner. Heexplained after thecouncil meeting why the language had changed.

"There's a new minister in place," he said. "So we're going to give them the benefit of the doubt."

Late Wednesday afternoon, Ottawa NDP MPPs Joel Harden and Chandra Pasma issued a joint statement saying they would call on the auditor general to investigate.