Murray, however, says he doesn’t recall engaging in any U-turn during a 2013 meeting at Queen’s Park, Ontario’s legislature building, when he was infrastructure minister in Kathleen Wynne’s Liberal government. Marolyn Morrison, who served as mayor of Caledon, Ont. from 2003 to 2014, she says Murray called her into his Queen’s Park office and instructed her to overturn a land use decision. Morrison claims Murray told her to drop her long-standing opposition to a proposal to build homes for 21,000 people south-west of Bolton, the biggest residential and commercial center in largely rural Caledona. The owner of the land, Solmar Development Corp., wanted Caledon to rezone agricultural fields for residential use. Morrison claims Murray told her to change the name, without mentioning Solmar by name. “He just told me he had a complaint against me and it was very serious and it could be dismissed or he could go away if I zoned it residential,” Morrison said in an interview in July, clarifying the allegations first reported. by the Globe & Mail in 2018. “I refused. I said, ‘Over my dead body.’”
“He wasn’t even the responsible minister,” says the former mayor
Solmar first proposed building housing on its land with Bolton in 2004. There was a strong demand for new homes in the Greater Toronto Area, and sparsely populated Caledon had far more land available than Brampton, its neighbor in Peel Region in southerly. Morrison opposed the plan, initially arguing against sprawl and later insisting that the land should be preserved for industrial development. Caledon’s nine-member city council voted down Solmar’s proposal in 2008. The ongoing conflict between the mayor and the developer, however, ended up in the pages of the Toronto Star and Toronto Life, as Morrison used a column in a Caledon weekly to argue against rapid development and the owner of Solmar invested in another weekly newspaper to plead his own case. Former Caledon, Ont., mayor Marolyn Morrison, seen here in 2009, claims Murray promised to fix a problem if he changed his mind about a housing development. (CBC News Archives) Morrison said Caledon was waiting for Ontario’s minister of municipal affairs and housing to approve a zoning change to allow a Canadian Tire distribution center to go ahead near Bolton when Murray requested her presence. She said she drove to Queen’s Park with Caledon’s chief administrative officer and planning director to meet Murray and his aides, who she said did not speak as Murray warned her staff about a poor job managing the development. “He wasn’t even the minister responsible for these things. He was over in infrastructure and therefore had nothing to do with that portfolio,” Morrison said in a telephone interview from her new home in BC’s Kootenay region. “He never, ever mentioned the developer, but he showed these lands on our maps and said these lands will be residential.” Morrison said her trustees tried to argue that Caledon bases its land-use decisions on Ontario guidelines. He claims Murray responded by ordering all the aides out of his office, leaving him and Morrison alone. “If I was in my right mind, I probably should have gotten up and left too,” he said, adding that’s when Murray promised to make an unspecified complaint to leave. “He basically told me that these lands were better residential.”
“It wasn’t a particularly important meeting,” says Murray
Murray said his recollection of the meeting is very different. “It wasn’t a particularly important meeting at the time,” Murray said Wednesday in a phone interview, arguing that the city of Caledon called the meeting, not him. “The bottom line is that there was never another follow-up meeting. I didn’t make any decisions. I certainly didn’t expect him to make decisions.” Murray also said he did not recall discussing the Solmar development with Morrison. “It was almost 10 years ago. I really don’t remember much of it,” he said. The former MPP said he remembers talking to Morrison about the Go Train service, rapid transit lines, new roads, the effect of transportation on population density and the Canadian Tire project, which eventually went ahead. “It’s really sad that he may have walked away with that feeling that it was less than a positive experience,” Murray said, adding that he has held many meetings during his 32-year career as a councillor, mayor, MPP and businessman. face. “In all those thousands of meetings I would literally say, the only objection I ever heard — and it came after the fact — was from a mayor.” Glen Murray, seen here in Toronto in 2014 with former Ontario premier Kathleen Wynne, was the province’s infrastructure minister when he met with Morrison. (Darren Calabrese/The Canadian Press) Solmar declined to comment on Morrison’s allegations, saying it was unaware of her claim. The developer donated $20,000 to Wynne’s Liberal leadership campaign in 2012, according to Ontario Elections donation records. A Solmar spokesman told the Globe & Mail in 2018 that the company also donated to other political parties. Morrison said she complained to Wynne about Murray, to no avail. He resigned as MPP in 2017 to work at the Pembina Institute, an environmental think tank, and returned to Winnipeg a year later.
Caledon’s story won’t torpedo Murray, professor says
Aaron Moore, who chairs the political science department at the University of Winnipeg, said he doesn’t think the Caledon story will affect Murray’s renewed campaign to become mayor of Winnipeg. Most voters, he said, won’t pay much attention. “The fact that it happened in Ontario while he was away, and the fact that it happened in a municipality that most Winnipeggers have never heard of, may not resonate with them as a result,” Moore said. Paul Thomas, professor emeritus of political studies at the University of Manitoba, said that while it’s important for municipalities to make independent decisions about land use planning, Morrison’s claims remain unproven. “Had there been more hard evidence, the story probably would have continued and he could have been forced to resign,” Thomas said. The professor said Murray is so confident he can convince others of his point of view that he can be “aggressive and dismissive of other people’s perspectives” when locked in an argument. “History will confirm the impression of some portion of the voting population — I don’t know what percentage — that Murray is self-centered, self-centered, opportunistic and not entirely honest,” Thomas said. “It will not torpedo his candidacy.” Morrison said her advice to Winnipeg voters is to vet all mayoral candidates. “Look at the history of the people who are running and choose wisely, because you want people who have integrity and are honest,” he said. “If you get a man with integrity and honesty, you can turn your city around.” Murray is among 14 candidates who have registered to run for mayor of Winnipeg. The elections are on October 26. More from CBC on the Winnipeg election
