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International
Durham Officials Reward Campaign Contributors by Designating Toronto's Golden Horseshoe Greenbelt Land for Development
A 100-mile-wide rural arch across the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), the anti-sprawl Golden Horseshoe Greenbelt, is already facing a threat in its northern sector, where Durham region officials designated 2,200 hectares (5,430 acres) for future development in May, to reward some local developers for their campaign contributions, with the Ontario Smart Growth Network and other advocacy groups bringing the issue to the forefront of the province's municipal elections on November 13.
''We're worried that whatever government might come to power in the future, one might blink and allow development in the greenbelt at some time,'' said Greenbelt Alliance environmental attorney David Donnelly at a joint press conference. ''With a four-year term coming up it is crucial that citizens support candidates who do not accept campaign donations from land developers.''
Ajax Mayor Steve Parish, who has never taken any developer money and who raised about $15,000 from ordinary voters during the last campaign, stressed, ''There can be no true reform, and there can be no true sustainable and smart growth planning until that relationship is severed.''
An attempt to make the Durham council rescind its May decision failed on a 15 to 9 vote in mid-September, but inclusion of the contested parcels in its new amendment to the Regional Official Plan was postponed until after the election.
The Smart Growth Network, the Sierra Club, the Greenbelt Alliance and the Rouge Duffins Greenspace Coalition pledged their support for candidates who decline developer contributions. ''We have an opportunity to go down the right road and develop this community right, or we are going to go down the wrong road,'' Mayor Parish cautioned, referring to the council's refusal to cancel its May vote. ''We started down that road yesterday, a road to more sprawl, more cookie-cutter development that will not sustain transit, that will not sustain livable communities.'' 9/15/2006
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