A local business owner is taking an NDP critic to task after the politician called out the company in a statement released to media.
On Tuesday, Jeff Burch, the provincial NDP’s critic for municipal affairs, asked Premier Doug Ford to “explain why he issued a minister’s zoning order (MZO) in Oro-Medonte that gave his buddies a ten-fold increase in the value of their property.”
He noted a subsidiary of Molded Precision Components (MPC) bought the land at 561 Line 7 N. for $2.65 million with the goal of creating a medical innovation park before requesting an MZO.
The MZO was issued, but MPC president David Yeaman then put the property up for sale in February, listed at $26.3 million.
“Yet again, Ford has tried to make his buddies even more rich by issuing an MZO. All this MZO did was try to make Ford’s buddies 10 times richer, no matter what it costs the rest of us,” Burch said.
“MPC has contracts with the provincial government to manufacture PPE, and has hosted multiple tours with PC politicians, while Geoffrey Campbell (of Oakleigh Developments) has donated thousands to the PC Party, including to the riding associations of Ministers Steve Clark and Doug Downey.”
Yeaman issued a statement of his own the next day, saying he was “deeply disturbed to hear the Ontario NDP is choosing to crassly play politics with Oro-Medonte’s Medical Innovation Park.”
“The NDP is spreading false claims regarding our company’s ties to the Ontario PC Party. Contrary to the NDP’s insinuations, Geoffrey Campbell is not an owner of the land, nor does he have a stake in our company,” Yeaman said.
“I myself have never donated to the Ontario PC Party. I implore the NDP to stop spreading falsehoods and threatening the future of this vital project and the jobs it will create.”
In February, a ministry spokesperson said the province intended to revoke the MZO.
In his statement, Burch said the Township of Oro-Medonte “wants the MZO revoked. Although that would take no more than the stroke of a pen, (Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Steve) Clark has not done that weeks and weeks after the township made the request.”
Yeaman refuted that claim.
“The request for the minister’s zoning order was supported unanimously by the Oro-Medonte Township, and by an overwhelming 34 councillors in Simcoe County. Over the process of acquiring the MZO, zero objections from the public were received,” he said.
“Contrary to the NDP’s claims, the township still supports the MZO and wishes to see the park built. The park would create an estimate of 1,400 direct jobs, 8,820 indirect jobs, and 2,000 construction jobs. It will enhance our community and help secure and strengthen Canada’s critical health security needs.”
He explained one of the partners for the innovation park filed for bankruptcy during the COVID-19 pandemic, “putting the future of the medical innovation park at risk.
“We were determined to find a way to proceed with the project,” he said.
“While the NDP wants to play politics, we want to create jobs and protect our employees’ livelihoods. To do this we put the land up for sale to attract new partners. Our company and the Township of Oro-Medonte have always strived to see the project succeed as the MZO intends,” Yeaman continued. “We understand that this was the wrong approach and should have searched for those partners in a different manner, which we are now doing.”
Once it was realized that mistake had been made, the property was taken off the market, he said, adding he is now “seeking investment and development partners to ensure the project is successfully completed.”
