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How developers will benefit from the Yonge subway route change – and why it’s raising the spectre of the Ford government’s Greenbelt scandal

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How developers will benefit from the Yonge subway route change – and why it’s raising the spectre of the Ford government’s Greenbelt scandal

When Premier Doug Ford’s administration unveiled its plan in 2021 to extend a Toronto subway line to Richmond Hill, it looked different from what the previous government intended to build.

Instead of going straight north, a portion of the Yonge north subway would swerve eastward off Yonge Street, then run under a residential neighbourhood, a public school and a ​​tributary of the East Don River before emerging above ground for its final stretch.

Ontario government inked secret deal with developers

New route was most affordable — but also poorest performing option

Route change choice based on Metrolinx’s ‘engineering expertise,’ premier’s office says

Developers have been amassing land where new stations will be

‘They’re with the government, they got the power’

Permission to build thousands more condo units

‘Overlap’ between route change decisions and the Greenbelt landswap

Developers’ off the hook for paying billions to municipality

Metrolinx says it has refined route based on community feedback

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