Dinner didn't 'sway' Grits: councillor

A city councillor says it's "incredibly naive"
for the New Democrats to allege the Liberal
government was swayed in its decision to change
the Barrie-Innisfil boundary by land developers
who attended a political fundraiser two years ago.

The NDP says developers who paid $5,000 each to
attend a private dinner with the premier were
rewarded by the government with greatly increased
land values.

New Democrat Peter Kormos said members of the
registered lobby group East Moratorium Land Owners
met with McGuinty and several cabinet ministers at
a Barrie home in May 2008.

McGuinty denies any wrongdoing.

Kormos should not assume the border decision was
based on the fundraiser, said Barrie Coun. Barry Ward,
who attended the reception prior to the dinner.

"It's incredibly naive to think that one $5,000-a-plate
dinner would make the premier make up his mind on a matter,"
Ward said. "If that was the case, we wouldn't have wasted
the last 10 years and spending millions of dollars to settle
this issue. We would have just written a cheque for $100,000
to the Liberal Party and we would have had our boundary
change.

"It's actually insulting to a lot of Barrie politicians,
residents and developers who have spent the last 10 years
trying to get the boundaries expanded for the sake of
Barrie's economy and the environment," Ward added.
"It completely ignores the environmental benefits and
the economics."

The government passed legislation to transfer more than
5,600 acres of land from Innisfil to Barrie, including
nearly 1,000 acres of land owned by members of East
Moratorium Land Owners. The legislation ended a development
freeze on the so-called 'moratorium lands'.

With the freeze lifted, Kormos says the landowners could
benefit by up to $30 million. The NDP says developers
paid between $25,000 and $66,000 per acre for the properties
in question, which have been selling for $75,000 per acre
since the Barrie-Innisfil Boundary Adjustment Act became law.

McGuinty said the Kormos allegations are "grasping" and
"overreaching."

The Welland-area MPP's timing is way off, Ward added.

"It seems strange that Peter Kormos would bring this
up now, more than 18 months after the dinner, almost a
year after the boundary change was announced and more
than two months after it took effect," Ward said.
"Where's he been sleeping for the last year and a half
to finally figure this out? I think it's just a ploy
to draw attention to himself. I see no other reason."

The fundraiser was an opportunity to meet the premier,
said Ward, who attended the reception with Barrie Coun.

Jeff Lehman

neither of whom forked over $5,000.
Ward said he was invited by

businessman

and former Barrie mayor

Rob Hamilton

one of the organizers.

Also at the reception, Ward said, were officials from
Georgian College and Royal Victoria Hospital.

"These were all people who had a chance to have
one-on-one meetings with the province to make their
case for things Barrie needed," Ward said.

"There were lots of people there, but they certainly
weren't all developers."

Innisfil Mayor Brian Jackson was not present at the
Barrie dinner, either.

"I believe different people were invited to greet the
premier," Jackson said. "I was not invited. I wish I
had $5,000 to put in a good word for the Town of Innisfil.

"If a decision was made that benefited a certain group
of developers, that's inappropriate," Jackson added.

"I'm extremely disappointed to hear this might possibly
have occurred, because it is not in the best interest of
either the Town of Innisfil or the City of Barrie."

Dunlop said political fundraisers are nothing new.

"It's perfectly legal under Elections Ontario," he said.
"The optics are bad, no question about that, but they are
legal. Maybe in the end the moratorium lands got advanced
quicker because of the meeting with McGuinty, but who will
ever know?"

Dunlop said he has issues with the bigger picture about
what happened. "Innisfil really got dumped on," he said.