One of the most stunning revelations contained in Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk’s explosive report into Ontario’s controversial Greenbelt land swap was how a small number of real estate developers were able to use their access to a high-level government staffer to have protected land — some of which was recently purchased — opened up for housing development.
Through encounters at an industry event and emails sent by their lawyers, developers successfully lobbied for the removal of environmental protections on land they own in the Greenbelt — a vast 810,000-hectare area of farmland, forest and wetland stretching from Niagara Falls to Peterborough that’s meant
