Ford said in question period that he admitted he made a mistake with the move to open up the protected area for development, and he is moving forward.
"It is an added extra layer of protection that doesn't currently exist," he said after question period. The property owners stood to see their land value rise by $8.3 billion, the auditor general found. More than 90 per cent of the land removed was in five sites passed on to the then-housing minister's chief of staff by two developers he met at an industry event, the auditor said.
"We know that the Greenbelt was not about housing and immigration," he said. "It was about a handful of people getting an $8.3-billion payday, all of who were friends of the premier, donors to the party, wealthy people already. same thing's happening in health care. It's going to happen with the privatization and more for-profit clinics."