The Insipid Corruption of Highway 413

The Star in a detailed exposé of the proposed Highway 413 reports, "Eight of Ontario's most powerful land developers own thousands of acres of prime real estate near the proposed route of the controversial Highway 413, a Torstar/National Observer investigation has found.

"Four of the developers are connected to Doug Ford's Progressive Conservative government through party officials and former Tory politicians now acting as registered lobbyists.

"If built, the road will raze 2,000 acres of farmland, cut across 85 waterways and pave nearly 400 acres of protected Greenbelt land in Vaughan. (Vaughan, located just north of Toronto and west of Yonge St, is the fifth-largest city in the GTA — Ed.) It would also disrupt 220 wetlands and the habitats of 10 species-at-risk, according to the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority.

"One developer, John Di Poce, employed the head of the Ontario PC party's fundraising arm for several years and three other developers employ the chair of Caroline Mulroney's 2018 PC leadership campaign as a government lobbyist. Mulroney is now Ontario's transportation minister and will play a key role in future decisions about the 413 highway.

"Another of the developers, Michael DeGasperis, hosted Ford and PC MPP Stephen Lecce (Minister of Education) in a private luxury suite at the BB&T Center in Miami to watch a Florida Panthers' NHL game in December 2018. In a statement, spokespeople for Ford and Lecce said both politicians paid for their own tickets to the game and no government business was discussed. That was shortly after the Ford government had resurrected the proposed 413 highway."

The Star continues, "The provincial government has handed down extraordinary directives in at least three instances since April 2020 to help fast-track development on lands owned by some of these major developers around the proposed highway.

"In the past year, Ford's government has signed controversial minister's zoning orders (MZOs) for two properties in Vaughan near Highway 400 close to the terminus of the 413's route and a parcel of land in Caledon near a proposed interchange.

"Most of the developers in the group are also prolific PC donors, contributing at least $813,000 to support the party since 2014.

"The group of developers own 39 properties covering 3,300 acres that are conservatively valued at nearly half a billion dollars, according to land registry documents. The value of those lands could rise dramatically if the highway is built and residential, commercial and industrial development is allowed to spread along the route.

"The developers include the Cortellucci, DeGasperis, Guglietti and De Meneghi families, John Di Poce, Benny Marotta, Argo Development and Fieldgate Homes."

The Star writes, "In an emailed statement on behalf of Ford, Mulroney and the transportation ministry, the premier's spokesperson said the 413 highway is needed because ‘even with significant investments in transit, the major highways in York and Peel regions are all forecasted to be operating over capacity by 2031.'

"There is a very strong case for moving forward with this project when considering the forecasted population growth this region will experience in the coming years,' said Ivana Yelich, the premier's spokesperson."

The enrichment of land developers and banks is joined with pay the rich schemes to construct the infrastructure using public funds. The government estimates Highway 413 will need at least $10 billion of public investment. Much of this public money at this point will be borrowed from private global moneylenders and doled out in "cost plus" contracts to private construction monopolies to build and maintain the highway.

The Star writes, "When the Progressive Conservatives (Ontario Party government) revived the project late in 2018, they also pledged to review the environmental assessment (EA) for the highway, allowing for a more ‘streamlined process for assessing potential environmental impacts.' This would allow for early works along the highway route such as new bridge construction or expansion to begin before the completion of the EA, expected in 2022."

The Star continues, "The search of land registry documents and corporation profiles focused on larger parcels of properties, many more than 100 acres in size, within five kilometres either side of the proposed route, as well as properties associated with major developers . One of the developers who owns the largest number of acres near the proposed highway is John Di Poce, who is associated with Di Poce Management Limited and Di Poce Real Estate Holdings Limited.

"The Torstar/Observer investigation identified 10 properties near the proposed highway owned by Di Poce's companies covering 663 acres in total. More than half of the properties were near the village of Kleinburg and Copper Creek Golf Club. ‘I'm in the building business. I sell houses,' Di Poce told the Globe and Mail in 2000. ‘I'm a private person and I don't want to have anything to do with anybody'."

Whatever that bluster may mean to Mr. Di Poce, the Star investigation found that he has lots to do with public friends in government and high places. It writes, "For a number of years, one of Di Poce's key contract consultants was Tony Miele, who simultaneously held the role of chair of the PC Ontario Fund, the party's fundraising arm, a role he continues to hold.

"Miele is a former president and CEO of the Ontario Realty Corporation (ORC), which managed the provincial government's real estate portfolio until 2011 when it became part of Infrastructure Ontario. He was appointed to the position by Mike Harris, the former PC premier, and resigned from the ORC in early 2006.

"On March 28, he sent an email to donors imploring them to help the party raise more than $46,000 in four days ‘to ensure that Doug Ford has the largest war chest of any party in the next election.'

"The relationship between Miele and Di Poce (the private person who doesn't want to have anything to do with anybody — Ed.) dates back to the late 1990s when Miele was a manager for the Canada Lands Company, a federal version of the ORC. In Nov. 1997 in his role with Canada Lands Company, Miele oversaw the sale of 30 acres of federally owned land across the street from the Chrysler assembly plant in Bramalea to Di Poce's company for $58,000 an acre. A month later, Di Poce flipped the property for $165,000 an acre. How did he do it? ‘Luck, nothing but luck,' he said at the time. After leaving ORC, Miele became a consultant for Di Poce's company. In an emailed statement, Miele stated he was a contract development consultant for Di Poce until 2016 and his role ‘did not involve any discussions whatsoever on the proposed Highway 413.'

"Another prominent developer with more than 600 acres of property near the proposed highway is the Cortellucci family, which owns Zancor Homes, Fernbrook Homes and other real estate development companies under the Cortel Group umbrella."

The Star details the ownership of large tracts of land close to the proposed 413 highway. Most of the big landowners also own and control real estate and infrastructure construction firms that may receive government contracts to build the highway and are in a position to parcel the land into lots and construct houses, apartments and commercial centres near the highway, especially the interchanges.

The Star writes of one of these landowners and developers Silvio DeGasperis who owns TACC Construction saying, "(DeGasperis) has fought against restrictions on development in southern Ontario for more than 15 years, beginning with the previous Liberal government's 2004 decision to protect the Greenbelt. The move effectively ruled out his plans to develop nearly 1,000 acres of farmland in Pickering, east of Toronto."

The Star quotes DeGasperis as saying, "‘I'm a relatively small player,' he said at the time (2006), when it was estimated he was grossing $650 million per year. ‘But if you push me around, I'll push back.'

"On Dec. 28, 2018, the Florida Panthers took on the Montreal Canadiens at the BB&T Center in Miami. Michael DeGasperis, Silvio's younger brother, played host to Doug Ford and Stephen Lecce in the DeGasperis family's luxury box. Lecce —- who had not yet been named education minister —- represents the King-Vaughan riding, where DeGasperis' Arista Homes is based.

"Companies connected to the DeGasperis family own three properties with a total of 168 acres near the proposed highway, as well as five properties owned jointly with other developers. The DeGasperis family's main TACC corporation, Burlington-based Argo Development and a company associated with Fieldgate all employ former federal Conservative MP Peter Van Loan as a lobbyist registered with the Ontario government. When asked what he aims to influence in his lobbyist registration for TACC Developments, he states ‘Impact of proposed highway on Client's lands.'

"Van Loan was the government house leader under Stephen Harper from 2011 to 2015. He was also the chair of Caroline Mulroney's 2018 failed campaign for the leadership of the Ontario PC party. Mulroney's spokesperson said Van Loan has never lobbied the minister regarding Highway 413. Van Loan is a former president of the Ontario PC party and from 2015 to 2018 he was the director of candidate training and recruitment for the provincial PCs."

The Star continues, "In addition to Van Loan, two of the DeGasperis family's companies employ former PC MPP Frank Klees as a registered lobbyist. His lobbying goals, according to his registration, are focused on several matters, including highways, housing and infrastructure. MPP Frank Klees was Ontario's transportation minister in 2003."

The Star describes the actions of Lormel Homes, another ownership group that controls 234 acres close to the 413 route in Vaughan. The Star writes, "Amir Remtulla, chief of staff for the late Rob Ford, lobbied on behalf of Lormel Homes from Sept. 2019 to July 2020. He was also employed by TACC Construction as a lobbyist from Nov. 2019 to Oct. 2020."

The Star then lists other prominent owners of land near the proposed highway, their real estate and infrastructure construction companies and connections with the Ontario government, including Argo Development that "employed Jim Burnett, a longtime Conservative campaigner, as a lobbyist from Feb. 2020 until early this year. Burnett worked on Patrick Brown's 2015 campaign to lead the Ontario PC Party and was an assistant to former PC leader Tim Hudak."

All the developers and landowners along the proposed route are listed as having donated to the Ontario governing Party or to a third-party group called Ontario Proud. The Star writes that they also donated lesser amounts to the Ontario Liberals and Ontario NDP saying, "The vast majority of the donations to other parties were also made before the PCs formed government in 2018."

The Star writes, "It's typical for developers to buy up properties around the fringes of cities and hold them as farmland for long periods, speculating they will eventually be included in the urban boundary. If a highway or other form of mass transit is also approved, the land is worth dramatically more, according to Victor Doyle, a former Ontario government planner. ‘The profit margins are astronomical,' said Doyle."

The Ontario government has the prerogative (police) power to override opposition to zoning changes called "Minister's Zoning Orders (MZOs)." The Star writes, "The orders (MZOs) —- made by Ford's Municipal Affairs Minister Steve Clark and in the face of mounting criticism —- are unappealable. ‘We will never stop issuing MZOs for the people of Ontario,' Ford said on March 9.

"Three Ford government MZOs cleared the way for projects near the 413. One issued in Vaughan in April 2020 approved developers' plans to demolish three protected wetlands where development is normally forbidden, and replace them with a massive Walmart distribution centre. The land sits near the point where the 413 would join Highway 400.

"The province had previously classified the wetlands as ‘provincially significant,' a title given to places the government deems most precious. Often they control floods or are home to rare species."

A ceremony was held at the site of the Walmart development on the wetlands in August 2020. The Star writes, "A photo of the event shows Condor founder Angelo DeGasperis standing alongside Ford, three of Ford's cabinet ministers, two local politicians, the CEO of Walmart Canada and the president of the development company Muzzo Group. They all held shovels. The warehouse's construction, set to be done in 2024, was endorsed by the local council. It was opposed by environmentalists, who said the MZO (government prerogative) was a ‘deeply troubling precedent.'

"On the other side of Highway 400, less than two kilometres away from the proposed interchange with the 413, a November 2020 MZO rezoned farmland to become the future site of five neighbourhoods. Among the developers participating: Lormel Homes, Fieldgate and TACC Developments."

The Star continues, "The Ford government used an earlier MZO in July 2020 to approve a housing development in Caledon, located on land near a proposed 413 interchange. The project was proposed by a group of companies that includes Nick Cortellucci's Brookvalley Project Management and Fieldgate."

If it stinks and gleams like rotting fish, it most probably is rotten. Time to stop paying the rich and clean out the filthy stable through democratic renewal and a new direction for the economy!

Together Let's Build the New!

(The complete article from The Star is called "Friends with benefits? An inside look at the money, power and influence behind the Ford government's push to build Highway 413")

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