What’s the Rush?

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Some members of Caledon Town Council are in quite a rush to pass a new fill By-law for the Town. However, those same Councillors are not so keen to have legitimate public understanding of or informed input into the final version of that law. It is but another example of “developer influenced” democracy in the Town of Caledon.

Consider that a public meeting and Open House to review a new By-law dealing with procedural issues is being given five hours for presentation and discussion time. The new fill By-law, which will impact the health of Caledon for decades, is being given a two hour Open House presentation and discussion window. Someone is stacking the deck.

The Town has admitted that the urgency to pass the new By-law is being done “to accommodate a prominent developer.” The same developer for whom Premier Ford was going to change the route of the proposed 413  highway to benefit one of the developer’s projects. It seems that the philanthropic developer from Vaughan, Mr. Nicholas Cortellucci is the driving force behind Council’s rush to change the fill By-law.

The object of  his desire, in this case, is the property known locally as Swan Lake located at 0 Shaw’s Creek Road/519 Charleston Sideroad. Despite Ontario policies protecting water bodies from receiving waste soil, the developer and some members of the Caledon Town Council think it’s OK to change Caledon’s fill By-laws to allow this to happen quickly.

No, it’s not OK. It is a perversion of democracy and a betrayal of promises made to protect Caledon’s environment and greenspaces, to reduce dangerous truck traffic, and to listen to the voices of your constituents. The very successful and wonderfully philanthropic Mr. Cortellucci does not deserve to have his name dragged through the mud just because some members on Town of Caledon Council picked the wrong Lake to try to fill with waste soil.

Increase the Open House time, increase the question and answer time for this By-Law, and bring back participatory democracy.

Once upon a time our Strong Mayor, Annette Groves, said: “As part of Pits to Parks, the town would like CVC (Credit Valley Conservation Authority) to consider investigating the potential acquisition of the property at 0 Shaw’s Creek Road/519 Charleston Sideroad given this property’s proximity to the Pinchin Pit,”

Yep, time to reconsider. The way I see it.

SWAN LAKE: Swansong or Premiere

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Trumpeter Swan" Images – Browse 15,942 ...The battle over 0 Shaw’s Creek Road/519 Charleston Sideroad in Caledon will soon be over. The property, known locally as “Swan Lake” was once the Warren Gravel Pit. It was fully rehabilitated by Lafarge Canada in 2022, and is now a lush ecosystem with a 18 hectare/45 acre freshwater lake as its centrepiece.

The controversy surrounds the sale of the property to Vaughan developer Nicholas Cortellucci. Although the Credit Valley Conservation Authority (CVC) wanted to secure this land to add to their rehabilitation of the adjacent Pinchin Pit, the sale went to the developer in 2023.

Cortellucci wanted to use the land and the lake as a dumping ground for waste soil from GTHA construction projects, essentially infilling the entire freshwater lake. The dumping fees for each truckload of dirt would be worth millions of dollars. However, it would essentially turn Caledon’s Swan Lake into a disposal facility, no longer the nature sanctuary it is now.

Since the Town of Caledon’s Zoning and Fill By-laws forbid the infill of a property zoned industrial extractive, the developer approached a Town staff member to request a change to the fill by-law. That request was taken to the Mayor of Caledon. The mayor then raised it as a motion in Council. Council narrowly passed the motion, dependent on staff reports regarding impact on groundwater quality.

WHOA! Full Stop.

Three issues developed from this. First was the question, “Who would be stupid enough to even consider the destruction of a fully rehabilitated greenspace?”

Secondly, “Could the mayor have stopped the developer influenced request at her desk and not brought it forward to Council?”

Thirdly, “Prior to the Motion being introduced to Council, why were no hydrological studies or research done regarding the potential impact on neighbouring wells of filling a below water table quarry with waste soil?”

We are all downstream and downwind. Politicians are scrambling to save political face. Deals are being brokered to try to come up with an alternative solution. Credit Valley Conservation Authority has expressed renewed interest in acquiring the property. Media coverage has gone from local newspapers to CTV and CBC. Now everybody knows.

The outcome should have been simple. The fully rehabilitated greenspace becomes part of the CVC’s nature corridor. That simplicity gets complicated when power and money and politics muddy the waters. The mayor should have said “NO” immediately, but we would have needed a truly strong mayor to speak truth to power.

Now the fate of Swan Lake rests on an “expert” staff report that will make Council’s vote solely dependent on whether an infill  of the lake would negatively affect neighbouring well water. Depending on the report, this could be an easy out for Council members who voted in favour of the mayor’s motion. It should never have come down to considering the groundwater alone. This motion should never have seen the light of day.

Swansong or Premiere? The dice are loaded, the way I see it.

The Swan and The Developer

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Many of us will remember one of the most riveting short stories we read in high school, “The Lady or the Tiger” written by Frank R, Stockton in 1882, but published in almost every collection of short stories read by students in the coming decades. Why?

Because …Summary, Review and Reflection: The Lady or the Tiger by Frank Stockton – THINK . WRITE . INSPIRE

… the ending created such a quandary for students that we debated it for months. The story basically centres around a King who held absolute authority over his lands. He had a way of determining justice by placing the accused in an arena filled with an engaged and excited public. The arena had two doors on the side opposite the King, Behind one door stood a beautiful youth, behind the other a starving tiger. One either became wed or devoured depending on their choice,

The King discovers that the Queen has been visited by a handsome youth, and hears rumours that they are in love. The King has the young man arrested and taken to the arena.

Bear with me now because this story affects the future of Swan Lake.

Once upon a time there was a Strong Mayor who dealt out decisions in their Council Chambers with a public audience. The decision facing their Council this month was to choose between two doors. Behind one was a Swan living in a beautiful lake and lush ecosystem; behind the other was  a Developer with trucks and construction fill to destroy the lake.

Now, in the original story, the Queen knows behind which door they both are waiting, the lady and the tiger. She is torn between her desire to see her loved one live and her jealousy that he will wed another. On the other hand, she is horrified by the thought of seeing him torn apart by the tiger. Her lover glances up at her and with the slightest gesture she indicates the door to her right.

Without hesitation he walks to the door and opens it. So, what door did she choose, the Lady or the Tiger? And the story ends. WTF? We debated her decision for weeks.

Caledon Council will soon walk into an arena filled with an engaged and excited public. Behind one door awaits The Swan. Behind the other door awaits a hungry Developer. The Swan represents the promises the Mayor made to protect the communities greenspaces, The Developer represents destruction and greed.

So which door will the Council choose? For which door will the Mayor cast a Strong Vote? The Mayor glanced to the door of their choice, The Councillors all saw the glance. Now they each had to make a choice.

And so I leave it with all of you: Which came out of the opened door,  — The Swan, or The Developer?

UPDATED … The Why Before the What

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Often in education, dealing with discipline problems, we avoid the WHY question and concentrate instead on WHAT did you do? It’s the Barbara Coloroso school of classroom management. And it worked.

The WHY question leads to, “My father drinks,” or “My mother beats me.” None of that solves the behaviour problem. The WHAT is simple: “I hit Jasmean.” If we had asked WHY did you hit Jasmean, we could have had a myriad of answers. “Is it acceptable to hit someone else in a discussion?” “No.” “How will you avoid this the next time you and Jasmean have a disagreement?” “We will talk it out or I will come to see you.”

Problem solving 101. It’s easy in the classroom with fresh minds. It’s not the same in civics with ambitious politicians. If you need to track down the root of an issue, you have to go to the WHY first. Why is Doug Ford pushing a housing crisis? Why are all of his developer friends supporting this push to unaffordable housing? Why was Bill 3 attached to cash incentives for municipalities to build more homes? Follow the money trail.

This isn’t just a Caledon  issue. This is a southern Ontario issue. Wherever there is liveable real estate available, someone is going to make a bundle. Unless you get kicked out of messing with Niagara-on-the-Lake. So, why re-route the 413 extension? WHY? Who stands to benefit from housing close to smooth transportation in those areas? Could the requests to reroute be coming from the the influential developers who flock to Ford’s fundraisers?  From one hand to the other.

This issue isn’t about our little Mayor. This issue is about the Ford’s government’s passing of Bills that allowed this to happen. This is about the influence of private money on public policy. From Bill 3 onward we can clearly see the “WHY” and then we can get to the WHAT. What do we do about a system that is so corrupted in self aggrandizing greed that it destroys communities and ecosystems.

None of the developers involved are to be condemned. Most are hard working individuals who have struggled through immigration, from construction trades to large development projects, to building financial empires. They all give back generously from their profits to local groups, Especially at Doug Ford  events. And they put their names on medical facilities and just so we don’t forget how caring they are. I would have preferred The Vaughan General Hospital, but there’s no community adulation to a family’s name in that generic title.

If you want to know the WHAT is happening here, you have to trace the WHY. Follow the money trail. Billions are about to be made on the reroute of the 413, and our abandoned Science Centre is a sign of things to come – a symbol of Doug Ford and his Conservative government’ uncaring incompetence. Swan Lake is our canary in a developer’s coal mine.

Yes indeed, It’s like Leonard Cohen sings … “Everybody knows!

UPDATE:     The Ford government has admitted that the rerouting of the proposed Hwy 413 was “developer influenced.”  Thanks to the astute questioning of  Caledon Citizen reporter Riley Murphy, he admitted it at a press conference on Wednesday, August 27, 2025. Premier Ford, with Mayor Annette Groves by his side, proudly announced the awarding of the first construction contracts in Caledon. Smoke and mirrors.

Ford went on to say about the developer’s request, “It was common sense; the Mayor and I are bang on with this.”

The Mayor of Caledon also admitted that “It isn’t unusual to have [developer influenced] requests, requests are made all the time.” Yes indeed, like the one made by the same developer to dump his construction waste into a freshwater lake in the middle of a fully rehabilitated greenspace. Common sense? I  think the cheese is sliding off your toast, Doug and Annie.

Remember this is a proposed highway. It is not a done deal, although the Conservative government’s photo ops would make you think otherwise. The TRCA has still not approved the route through the Humber River watershed. The construction contracts in Caledon are for the paving of Highway 10, and upgrades on the 401/407 interchange. There is NO construction beginning on the proposed 413 highway!

Ford’s talk of using the possibility of the 413’s construction as a tool for standing up to President Trump is ludicrous. Ford and Trump and Poilievre and Groves are all working from the same playbook. The good Premier doesn’t care about how many hours we spend trapped in gridlock with our precious family time being lost. The man who would have carved up the Greenbelt cares about one thing. Helping his developer horde make as much money as possible as quickly as possible.

Mr. Ford wants to be Captain Canada. Ms. Groves wants to be Queen of Caledon. Let’s just hope that our dumbed down constituents wake up in time.

The way I see it.

p.s. Stayed tuned for a brief history of the 413. It all started in 2002 with Mike Harris and his “Common Sense Revolution” that nearly ruined Ontario.

Once Upon a Time in Nodelac

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Once upon a time, there was a beautiful kingdom known as Nodelac. It had a benevolent Queen and an honest Governor and it thrived and prospered. It grew from a little milling village into a sizeable town over the years and the people were happy.

Of course it takes many materials to build a town, and so the people sawed and dug and ploughed and sewed while still protecting their wild green spaces. One year though, the people looked at a great hole in the ground that they had dug and said, “Hmmm.  This is a mess! We will have to clean this up!”

So the Queen and the Governor summoned the Nature Guard to supervise the clean-up and certify that the hole in the ground was rehabilitated. So it was written, so it was done! Over the years the hole in the ground became a beautiful lake surrounded by green fields filled with life – flying, fluttering, crawling, hopping, slithering and loping creatures of all shapes and sizes!  And the people called It their Wildlife Sanctuary.

Over time, the Queen passed on and was replaced by a King who liked holes in the ground more than wildlife sanctuaries. The King then gave new powers to the Governors under his “Ruthless Governor’s Law”  This new law, and a lot of bags of gold from the King and his wealthy Barons, made a few of the Governors also begin to love holes in the ground more than wildlife sanctuaries. Some of the Governors refused to follow the new law and maintained the peoples’ voice in their towns. But many gave in to power and greed.

Sadly, the Governor of Nodelac was seduced by these new powers and by large bags of gold from a wealthy land Baron who looked at their beautiful Wildlife Sanctuary as a chance to horde even more gold. The Baron bought the land surrounding the Wildlife Sanctuary! Then he convinced the Governor that if he got permission to fill in that “old hole” he could build an unaffordable new community on the ugly flattened landscape.

Although many of Nodelac’s people and elders opposed the destruction of their beautiful Wildlife Sanctuary, the Governor set in motion a series of edicts to let the Land Baron quickly get ready to fill in the beautiful lake in the middle of their Wildlife Sanctuary. The people were angry, the elders were angry, and all the little creatures were scared.

“We must do something,” they cried. “We must let all the citizens of Nodelac know that this Ruthless Governor is violating the Queen’s edict that our Wildlife Sanctuary is royally certified and protected. We cannot let the Land Baron buy our future!”

The people then exposed the corruption and draconian decisions that perverted the voice and rights of the citizens of Nodelac They rose up and deposed the Governor, shamed the betrayers out of town, banished the land Baron, and shortly thereafter toppled the King.

And the good people of Nodelac and their Wildlife Sanctuary lived happily ever after.

*****

Now, dear Readers, imagine that this is happening right in our own backyard. What would you do to save our Wildlife Sanctuary? As Robert Bateman once said to me, “Skid, we never save anything by moaning and groaning about them once they’re gone. We save things by celebrating the beauty of their existence while we still have them.”

Wise words by which to live and act.

The way I see it.

***

Footnote: The exact location of the mythical Kingdom of Nodelac is uncertain. The Gaulish colonists who first displaced the indigenous peoples called it Nord du Lac.The second wave of Anglo-Saxon colonists blended the name to Nodelac.