The Ontario Court of Appeal has upheld a previous court’s decision to dismiss a developer’s constitutional challenge regarding a 2023 law that re-designated 15 pieces of land to the Greenbelt.
The legal dispute revolved around provincial legislation that countered Premier Doug Ford’s initiative to open protected areas for development. Minotar Holdings Inc.’s lawyers contended that the law infringed upon superior courts’ authority and unwritten constitutional principles.
Following a recent ruling, the Appeal Court deemed the developer’s argument as potentially destabilizing the constitutional balance and consequently rejected it.
Minotar Holdings Inc. initiated legal action against the province in 2017, asserting that their 210-acre land was wrongly included in the Greenbelt.
Although a settlement was reached in 2022 between the developer and the province to exclude 37 acres from the protected area, this agreement was annulled a year later amidst controversy over Ford’s proposal to develop parts of the Greenbelt.
In response to critical reports from the auditor general and integrity commissioner highlighting preferential treatment towards specific developers, Ford restored all 15 land parcels to the Greenbelt, including Minotar’s 37-acre tract.
The legislation that reinstated the land mandated that any future alterations to the Greenbelt boundaries must be executed through legislation rather than regulation. This provision, argued Minotar’s lawyer Paul Fruitman in 2023, shielded the government from judicial scrutiny of Greenbelt modifications.
In a split 2-1 decision, the Appeal Court concurred with the lower court that the province’s actions did not encroach upon the superior courts’ jurisdiction.
“The legislative changes impact individuals’ legal rights by modifying substantive law,” the ruling stated. “These modifications do not restrict inherent judicial powers but fall within established regulatory practices.”
