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.

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.