Last summer the Canadian province of Ontario was rocked by several political controversies that shared common threads, mainly their connection to the leader of its government, Premier Doug Ford, and their relevancy to the Greater Toronto Area, where most of the province’s population lives.

              The first were questions that arose surrounding the planning of Highway 413, a proposed freeway in the periphery of Toronto. Planning studies found the multi-billion dollar project was somewhat unnecessary and needlessly harmful to the environment. Cheaper alternatives, which would require far less construction, were found to be more helpful if they were implemented. Many cities in the area opposed the project and citizens formed grassroots campaigns against it. Backlash against Highway 413 metamorphosed into revelations that property developers with connections to Doug Ford owned land in the area and stood to benefit. These lands had been re-designated for suburban development from protected greenbelt, a classification meant to protect the natural environment from the encroachment of suburban sprawl. This re-designation process was revealed to be, if not illegal, highly unethical and received scrutiny from several watchdog and police investigative groups. It led to several high-profile resignations and apologies, which at times threatened to pull Doug Ford and his party out of government. At around the same time, the Ford Government announced plans to sell off part of a popular public park in Toronto to a foreign hospitality corporation to build a private spa. Public backlash condemned the destruction of an environmentally important public space, an action which had seemingly been done by fiat, without consultation with the community.

              Speaking in his defense, Doug Ford claimed to be acting in the best interests of the GTA and Ontario as a whole, believing it to be necessary to sustain growth and ensure a healthy future. Highway 413 would relieve freeway congestion elsewhere; the greenbelt land swap would go to developers who would help to build many thousands of homes, which remain in critically short supply in Ontario; and Ontario Place would become a source of profit, and thus aid the financial stability of the province.

               The point of telling this story isn’t to bash the Doug Ford Government, as fun as that may be. Instead, the point is to have a case study on the tensions that exist in cities. With nearly seven million people in the Greater Toronto Area, and nearly ten in the greater region, there are many competing interests with differing opinions and levels of power to effect change. Sprawling suburban municipalities conflict with dense urban ones, wealthy and working class neighborhoods, locals and commuters. In the story of Doug Ford’s scandals, cars are in tension with public transit, developers with environmental advocates, and ultimately, the public good versus private interests. Tensions exist wherever entities intersect with one another, and they push and pull our cities in new and interesting directions. Highways get built and encourage sprawl, or highways get cancelled and subways get built instead.