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Doug Ford - Build in greenbelt
- Thread starter bigpoppa
- Start date
Ashtonator
Well-known member
He had my vote but now i'm not so sure anymore
He seems intent on following the PC tradition of being handed a victory and putting a loaded shotgun to his chin and pulling the trigger before the election. He should just stop talking until after the election, everytime he opens his mouth he gets fewer votes.
Type17
Well-known member
To be honest, I kinda see his appeal. If you don't live in Toronto, the stuff he's been saying really makes it seem like he's on the side of the side of the proverbial "average Joe" that just wants the government to lower his taxes and **** off... I mean, I live downtown and all the stuff he's been saying is basically a **** you to me and the way I earn my bread, but I can't imagine that the voters out in Kingston or Sarnia or Timmins give a damn about transit development, the green belt, or any of the stuff that concerns me.
I'm a little shocked that Wynne is being portrayed as corrupt given the infamy of the Ford family; I really do think it takes some cognitive dissonance to see one as corrupt but not the other, but maybe the average voter just wants to try something else now; the liberals have been in power for a while and by now have a few skeletons in their closet. All in all, I'm relatively pleased with the way things have developed in recent years and I'd be fine with more of the same, but I can understand how others would want something else.
I don't think it'll be a disaster, and even if it is, it's only a few years... nobody can do THAT much damage.
I actually think people outside the GTA would be more against greenbelt development. I think us non-GTA folk have a better understanding of the importance of agriculture, natural land, etc.
Like it was mentioned above, every time he opens his mouth he loses votes.
Mad Mike
Well-known member
One of the things that PCs in Ontario do well is talk in simple terms. For those old enough to remember Harris, his appeal with based on a common sense approach to things - screw the politicians and academics, simple easy to understand solutions to nagging issues.
I think Ford speaks that way, his plans are room temperature & understandable. This style certainly is appealing to voters, not just here, but everywhere. I think this is mostly due to two things: 1) the thing known as the 'Swamp' (culture of elitism, waste, patronage, & pandering) AND 2) way too much political focus on things that don't mean much to the common man.
Much of the greenbelt is lands that are environmentally sensitive and those lands need protection. A large part of the greenbelt is not environmentally sensitive, they are corn and bean farms that have the same ecological footprint as well planned subdivisions. The only argument for restricting development of these lands is to make the urbanite's Sunday drive through the rural countryside a bit closer. These are the lands that McGinty annexed as a political 'punch in the nuts' to PC friendly developers and farmers who in good faith had invested and planned their long term around development.
Mad Mike
Well-known member
It doesn't need to look like a drive across Eglinton avenue.
Take a drive through the rural areas that were developed on the existing greenbelt. The whole area around the Forks, Halton, York and Durham outside of the existing villages and towns - it can be well planned and still retain the 'country beauty'. Personally I'd like to see some large tracts of land opened make housing affordable for young families. I benefited from this in the 80s when farmlands in York region and East Gwillumbury we're opened up for development - back then lands were available so a home in Holland Landing cost less than a building lot in Markham.
"Unrestricted urban sprawl is a city killer."
It's actually a very simple message, it's just not one people want to hear because they want their affordable McMansions and a breezy commute too. Anything less than that is the gubermints fault.
Hey folks, I hate to dump on your Ford bash but the Liberals have been allowing that crap for years. It's called light green.
A buddy was chatting with a bunch of developers in the Stouffville area, mentioned the restrictions and they just laughed.
Keep spreading the Ford hate and we'll have Wynne back.
I'm not a Fordie but see us in the same position as the USA having to choose between the status quo, go nowhere but deeper in debt Clinton and train wreck Trump.
We're doomed either way. It's a choice between being squeezed to death or going out in a blaze of misguided glory.
A buddy was chatting with a bunch of developers in the Stouffville area, mentioned the restrictions and they just laughed.
Keep spreading the Ford hate and we'll have Wynne back.
I'm not a Fordie but see us in the same position as the USA having to choose between the status quo, go nowhere but deeper in debt Clinton and train wreck Trump.
We're doomed either way. It's a choice between being squeezed to death or going out in a blaze of misguided glory.
I know some developers that have negotiated their greenspace in the GTA become eligible for development in exchange for greenspace much further away. I'm not saying ford is different or better than wynnebag on this front, just he is an idiot for talking publicly about it. The few who will hugely benefit from this already know and I expect that he will lose more votes than he wins across the province with this policy.
Opening up a bit of land is not going to bring back the $200,000 detached home in the GTA. It will just allow more condo dwellers to jump to $750,000+ houses in the burbs.
A small piece of duct tape appropriately applied would help his campaign.
Well, he just retracted his claim in an press release. Good for him. It was an ignorant thing to say but ignorance is curable, and he showed himself being cured. I for one respect his candour this time.
Makes me think his worst instincts might be reigned in by the Ps in the PCs. Maybe his leadership won't be the total disaster that it could potentially be. But then I don't believe the Liberal reign has been much of a disaster at all either.
Makes me think his worst instincts might be reigned in by the Ps in the PCs. Maybe his leadership won't be the total disaster that it could potentially be. But then I don't believe the Liberal reign has been much of a disaster at all either.
bigpoppa
Well-known member
Mad Mike
Well-known member
If I had to make a guess, the audience was probably a few well heeled supporters that got rear ended by McGinty a few years back. Words uttered to a small group pre-campaign - dismiss them, move along, and hold his feet to the position he clarified today.
The Wynne camp will make a lot of noise about this, so be prepared to see them kick it into each day's new cycle. Of course Wynne and company are doing this for the children, for families, for the poor farmers in the greenbelt -- it's not another smeary stunt for votes.
Ashtonator
Well-known member
Good Stuff and confirmed here too
https://globalnews.ca/news/4179101/kathleen-wynne-doug-ford-greenbelt/
This presumes people act with a lot more cunning and guile than they really do. But really ignorance and pride explain this kind of situation much better. He probably believed 'instinctively' that the greenbelt was a Liberal ploy to keep housing expensive for their own benefit, or some other 'common sense' nonsense. The range of theories explaining this situation on Twitter now is conspiracy-grade bullcrap for the same reason.
People are human, surprisingly. We sometimes say or do dumb stuff when we're supposed to know better. Plus we often times assume that people in positions of power are smarter and better informed and do everything with careful deliberation.
No, it was just a silly thing he thought at the time and has changed his mind, at least politically if not personally.
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