Ford calls out Crombie, Ontario mayors criticizing housing law: ‘Get on board’ and ‘stop whining’
Posted December 7, 2022 11:36 am.
Last Updated December 7, 2022 2:22 pm.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford is telling the mayor of Mississauga and other municipal leaders who’ve voiced opposition to new housing legislation to “get on board” and “stop whining.”
At an unrelated announcement in neighbouring Brampton today, Ford launched into unprompted criticism of Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie’s opposition to aspects of his housing plan.
“We have a few mayors that don’t want to play in the sandbox, including Mayor Crombie. I don’t know what her issue is,” Ford said.
“We have an ambitious target. I am going to use Mississauga [as an example]… Mississauga building 120,000 homes over the next 10 years. That’s about 12,000 homes every year and far from the city’s current annual average of 2,100.”
Related:
Crombie and other mayors across the province have said that Ontario’s new law that eliminates and freezes some developer fees to municipalities will force them to raise property taxes in order to pay for infrastructure that supports new housing.
“Bill 23 will cost the City of Mississauga $885 million over ten years in development charges and money for new parks. It’s equal to losing 20 per cent of our capital budget,” Crombie said on Nov. 28.
“Market conditions determine the price of housing, not the cost to build. Eliminating development charges won’t bring prices down but will damage our community. We need to prioritize affordable housing, but it should not come at the expense of our current residents.”
Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Steve Clark has said in response that he will launch a third-party audit of the finances of select municipalities to determine if the law will indeed cause a shortfall and, if so, the province will make those communities “whole.”
Ford says Mississauga is sitting on millions of dollars in development charge reserves.
“I see Mayor Crombie is out there handing out flyers and doing this. All I say is, get on board. Stop being disingenuous to the people of Mississauga,” Ford said. “Stop the whining and complaining.”
Crombie’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
When it introduced Bill 23 last month, the Ford government identified 29 municipalities in which the bulk of new housing will need to be built in order to reach its goal of 1.5 million new homes in 10 years.
Ontario will require them to develop “pledges” of how they will meet their assigned targets. Toronto, for example, will need 285,000 new homes.
With files from The Canadian Press
