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I came to the conclusion some time ago that Justin Trudeau has no intention of banning handguns.

Over the years we've all been strung along with promised initiatives to tackle the problem of gun crime but they all fall short of what is needed. A complete ban.

No-one outside the police and military needs a handgun.

I’ve been living here in Canada since 2010 and over that time gun crime has shot up. In the major national or big city newspapers, reports on killings involving a handgun have moved from the front page to the inside pages. It's different, of course, if someone famous is shot dead.

Handguns have even been used on Main Street here in Newmarket - generally regarded as a safe Town - and people have been wounded. 

Not so lucky

Away from the downtown, others have not been so lucky.

The Globe and Mail editorial yesterday drew our attention to a

“sharp, and accelerating, increase in gun crime, which hit a record 4,741 incidents in 2022, a doubling since 2015. Adjusted for population, there were 12.18 gun crimes for every 100,000 Canadians last year, the highest rate on record.”

The centre-right Globe and Mail says:

“Neither the Liberals nor the Conservatives have proposed what would be a necessary first step in curtailing gun violence: a complete ban on handgun ownership.”

Handguns banned in UK after Dunblane massacre 

There is no right to bear arms in Canada. 

This is also the case in the UK which banned handguns after the Dunblane massacre in Scotland where 16 elementary school children and their teacher were shot and killed in the school gymnasium on 13 March 1996.  The killer, Thomas Hamilton, had a firearms certificate and could legally own handguns. 

I was an MP at the time and voted for a complete ban. I've no regrets.

Portapique and the Mass Casualty Commission

After Portapique, the worst massacre in Canadian history, the Government danced around the issue. Instead of acting purposefully Trudeau dragged his feet, unwilling to risk alienating the gun-owners. So he triangulated in true Clinton fashion.

Now, after a long drawn out inquiry, the attention of the public has inevitably moved on to other issues. And so too has the Prime Minister’s.

Our own MP in Newmarket-Aurora doesn't create waves. He will just go with the flow. 

It's so sad.

It doesn't have to be this way.

(Click "Read more" below for the Globe and Mail editorial: The rising tide of violent crime can’t be ignored. It’s time to ban handguns)

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Update on 30 August 2023: From CNN: And this is what it is like south of the border. Since 2014 one eighth of the American population is estimated to have lived within one mile of a mass shooting. And Congress is paralysed, unable and unwilling to act.

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Dawn Gallagher Murphy's job is to deliver Ford's message. That's what she gets paid to do. 

It is not to exercise independent thought.

Constituents who contact her about the Auditor General’s scathing report on the Greenbelt will receive the boilerplate response below. Dawn hasn't added any commentary of her own. Nor did she proof read and correct the original.

Here is Dawn’s email which is being sent to constituents. I have added my comments. 

Dawn Gallagher Murphy (DGM): Thank you for your email to the office of MPP Dawn Gallagher Murphy on the Greenbelt development and the Auditor's report.Summarized below is the government’s response to the Auditor’s report and the steps that will be taken moving forward.

At a time when Ontario is experiencing unprecedented growth, it’s never been more important to deliver on our commitment to build at least 1.5 million homes.

My Comment: The CBC reports that Ontario has more than 1.25 million potential new homes already in the development pipeline — it just needs to figure out how to convince builders to get shovels in the ground. Developers are sitting on planning approvals, choosing not to build. Municipalities are, in general, not housebuilders. They give approvals to developers.

In March this year York Region's Housing Affordability Task Force showed total housing supply of 1,126,960 units - that's housing approved and proposed. The figure excludes over 225,000 units under construction. The Regional Planning Commissioners say: 

"Data shows there are already over 1 million approved and proposed housing units in the development approval process. If a proxy of as-of-right accessory units is added, this number totals more than 1.25 million potential new homes." (See table at bottom)

York Region is planning to hold a workshop in the Fall to look at the number of approvals granted by their nine constituent municipalities and the number of construction starts. But we shall get a glimpse of what is to come on Thursday 7 September 2023 at the next meeting of the Housing Affordability Task Force. I hope Dawn is invited to sit in. And offer her views.

To continue reading click "read more" below.

Update on Saturday 26 August 2023: From the Toronto Star's Martin Reg Cohn: Here's why Does Ford needs to back down on his Greenbelt fiasco.

Update on 29 August 2023: From the Toronto Star: Doug Ford says Ajax sites could be returned to the Greenbelt after learning developer aims to sell

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The Toronto Star has the latest.

Update on 29 August 2023: From the Toronto Star: Doug Ford says land could be returned to the Greenbelt after learning it is listed for sale. But the owner says it's all a misunderstanding.

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The Auditor General told us when introducing her withering report on the changes to the Greenbelt that fair, transparent and respectful consultation did not take place. 

The changes to the Greenbelt boundaries made by Ryan Amato were made by Regulation, through delegated powers.

The Legislature is supposed to keep an eye on these things through its Procedure and House Affairs Committee whose membership includes my MPP, Dawn Gallagher Murphy.

I handed in this letter (below) to Dawn's Constituency Office at 2.10pm this afternoon asking for a meeting to discuss the issue. Dawn's assistant asked me if I represented anyone and I said it was just me, a constituent. He then asked what it was about and I told him. I asked if I could make an appointment there and then. He said he couldn't do that because he didn't have Dawn's schedule. And that's where it has been left.

Click "read more" for my letter to Dawn Gallagher Murphy.

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Southlake has been in discussions with the Rice Group since, at least, January 2022. 

Jordan Holt, the Rice Group’s manager of acquisitions and finance, asked for a meeting about the hospital’s expansion plans. In an email he told John Marshman, Southlake’s Vice President of Capital, Facilities and Business Development, that he would:

“prepare a preliminary overview of our company/land holdings that may be of interest to you.”

On 26 January 2022 John Marshman had a follow-up meeting with Holt.

A lot happened in the intervening months. 

Michael Rice, Bob Schickedanz, Luca Bucci and Steve Clark

On 15 September 2022 Michael Rice bought the Greenbelt lands at Bathhurst from Bob Schickedanz, the former President of the Ontario Home Builders Association whose Chief Executive was, at that time, Luca Bucci, former Chief of Staff to Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister, Steve Clark.

On 1 November 2022 Michael Rice offered Southlake land in the Greenbelt at Bathurst for a new hospital.

Unanswered questions

Which begs a series of questions: When did Southlake first learn that the Bathurst land was in the Greenbelt? Did they verify independently that the land could be developed? When did they learn it was going to be removed from the Greenbelt? Did Southlake believe at any stage that it would be possible to build a new hospital in the Greenbelt outside a settlement area? What made them believe this?

Southlake talks about its plans for a new hospital on the New Southlake pages of its website. 

In the Q&A section the question is posed: Where will the new hospital be located?

“At this point we have not selected a location for the new hospital. The location will be selected through a formal process based on a number of factors but primarily driven by optimizing access to care for the communities we serve.”

The formal process includes the submission of Southlake’s Master Plan to the Ministry of Health which was filed on 31 January 2020. When I tried to get hold of it I was told by the Ministry it was not a public document for these reasons: 

Pages 1 – 782 are withheld pursuant to section 17(1)(a) (Third Party Information) and section 18(1)(c) (Economic and other Interests of Ontario) of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.

Records on Southlake's capital projects

But now, after a tidal wave of freedom of information requests, Southlake has released an index of records of their capital projects – not the records themselves. 

Southlake warns they have not reviewed the records in full detail and no final decision has been made on whether full or partial access will be granted. They say that based on a sample, access will most likely be granted on a partial basis or declined.

They say this is because most of the records are part of ongoing negotiations concerning the proposed building of a new hospital.

“Further, many of these documents involve third parties and we need to follow their direction on whether or not these records can be disclosed.”

Protected Greenbelt

No-one wants to stop Southlake getting the land it needs for a new hospital. So long as it is not in the protected Greenbelt or on lands removed from the Greenbelt by Doug Ford.

But the question for Arden Krystal is this: When did she first realise the land to be gifted to Southlake was in the protected Greenbelt and what did she do about it?

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