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· collected 2026-09-06 · by Sheila Wang
Premier Doug Ford’s government should freeze its plan for a massive condo development in Oakville until it can disclose how thoroughly it vetted the developer picked to lead the project, a local citizens group is demanding.
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group → freeze → project
In a letter to the province, the Oakville Community Association, which represents more than 2,000 residents, asked for an independent review of Ontario’s use of four minister’s zoning orders (MZOs) to fast-track the development near the busy Oakville GO station.
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which → represent → station
The group also urged the provincial government to reveal the results of any due diligence it conducted on the developer’s finances and expertise.
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it → urge → finances
The letter went to the Minister of Infrastructure Kinga Surma shortly after the publication of an Aug. 27 Toronto Star investigation that found the province’s private building partner, Distrikt Developments, had no prior experience in building highrise condos, and that its president, Emil Toma, had faced a succession of legal and financial battles since he started as a builder in 2009.
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he → go → 2009
Most recently, Toma saw a Toronto apartment project managed through a separate company collapse into receivership without ever breaking ground.
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project → see → ground
Oakville councillors and planning staffers have long opposed the project, which would allow Distrikt Developments to build a cluster of 11 highrise condo towers and add more than 6,800 homes to an area roughly the size of the Rogers Centre.
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Developments → oppose → Centre
The MZOs bypass local planning processes and cannot be appealed.
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MZOs → bypass → processes
Did the province vet the developer?
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province → vet → developer
Distrikt has told the Star that it has successfully built residential communities, and it is qualified to deliver this project’s housing and employment opportunities, as well as other public benefits.
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it → tell → opportunities
For this story, Toma said Distrikt has invested “as a minority partner” in the Oakville TOC, which is “majority owned and sponsored by major institutional partners, together with established lending institutions and investment partners.”
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which → say → institutions
Distrikt’s role is to “lead the development process,” including land assembly, planning and approvals, while its project partners handle construction.
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partners → lead → construction
In its five-page letter to the province, the association is asking for a hold on the project until an independent review is complete.
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review → ask → project
The province must revoke the MZOs, the letter said, if the review does not establish that orders were justified.
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orders → revoke → MZOs
“How do they continue to have a company who has all these issues have MZOs to pretty much do this huge development?
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who → continue → development
They really need to save face,” said Michael Reid, president of the Oakville Community Association, who wrote the letter on behalf of the group.
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who → need → group
In a separate email to the Star in July, Toma said many of the Star’s questions “conflate unrelated companies, individuals, and historical disputes into a single narrative about Distrikt.
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many → say → Distrikt
These matters involve different entities and circumstances and have no bearing on Distrikt Developments or the Oakville Transit-Oriented Community.”
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matters → involve → Developments
Developer Emil Toma says his company Distrikt Developments is qualified to help build the transit-oriented community.
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company → say → community
Developer Emil Toma says his company Distrikt Developments is qualified to help build the transit-oriented community.
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company → say → community
The Ministry of Infrastructure did not say whether the government will consider reviewing or revoking the zoning orders.
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government → say → orders
In an email, it referred the Star to previous statements provided by Infrastructure Ontario (IO).
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it → refer → Ontario
IO has told the Star that it “conducts a robust reputation and financial due diligence to ensure the building partners have the expertise, experience and access to capital to build housing around transit stations and hubs.
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partners → tell → stations
IO manages Ontario’s transit-oriented community (TOC) program.
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IO → manage → program
The program, launched by Ford’s government in 2020, aims to increase housing supply near transit and save taxpayers’ money.
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program → launch → money
The Oakville land, now consisting mainly of parking lots and low-slung strip malls, was tapped as a TOC in November 2024.
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land → consist → November
In April, the Ford government issued four MZOs to expedite the project.
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government → issue → project
A December 2024 auditor general’s report found that under Ford’s government, minister’s zoning orders were often approved without clear rationale and showed “the appearance of preferential treatment” for some developers.
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orders → find → developers
In April 2024, the province revoked six MZOs as part of an effort to crack down on stalled developments that had seen little progress.
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that → revoke → progress
The province should consider adding the Oakville MZOs to their revocation list, Reid said.
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Reid → consider → list
“The Ford government sometimes rushes to do something and then afterwards they realize, oh, wait a minute, maybe we shouldn’t have done that and then they roll it back,” he said.
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he → rush → it
When the Ford government picked Distrikt to lead the TOC development, Toma, his brother and their other company had defaulted on a multiple-million-dollar loan for a lowrise apartment project in Toronto, which then went into receivership.
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which → pick → receivership
Lenders then asked an Ontario court to issue a bankruptcy order against Toma.
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Lenders → ask → Toma
The proceedings are ongoing, according to the bankruptcy and insolvency records database.
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proceedings → accord → database
Distrikt has said that like every major master-planned community in Ontario, projects of this scale are delivered by experienced teams of professionals, “not by one individual or one company acting alone.”
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projects → say → individual
At a local advisory meeting in 2025, IO was asked whether Distrikt had funding for the project, and an official said the firm has partnered with Remington Group and had institutional financing and rental options planned on the TOC development.
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financing → ask → development
Remington’s president Christopher Bratty was one of the developers who attended Ford’s daughter’s wedding and was described as a personal friend of Ford.
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who → attend → Ford
“These concerns are matters of clear public interest,” the letter reads.
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letter → read → interest
“The public should not be asked to simply assume that the necessary financial, technical and organizational capacity exists.
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capacity → ask → ?
The province should be prepared to demonstrate that it does.”
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it → prepare → ?
Under Oakville’s original plans, a 103-hectare area in midtown just south of the QEW would become a vibrant, mix-used community with a variety of housing options and building heights to house 12,000 new residents.
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area → become → residents
…and 2 more, not listed.
