Doug Ford gets polite welcome at plowing match amid undercurrent of Greenbelt anger

Ontario Premier Doug Ford is receiving a polite welcome at a major farm and rural expo, but there is an undercurrent of anger among some attendees about his plan to open parcels of protected Greenbelt land for housing development.

Provincial politicians of all stripes have made a trek today to the International Plowing Match, which is a celebration of agriculture and rural living, and provides politicians with an opportunity to woo those communities.

Ford received some cheers and thumbs up during an opening parade in which he and his caucus members were pulled on a wagon through the expo, and received polite applause during his speech.

But afterward, some attendees grumbled about Ford’s decision to remove protections from Greenbelt lands, 83 per cent of which the auditor general said is among the highest quality farmland in the province.

Ken Reed, from Kitchener, Ont., says while he generally supports the Progressive Conservatives, it seems like the Greenbelt decision was taken to benefit “big money” developers and he doesn’t like it.

The auditor general found that more than 90 per cent of the land was in five sites passed on to the then-housing minister’s chief of staff by two developers he met at an industry event, and the property owners stand to see their land value rise by $8.3 billion.