For Immediate Release

February 27, 2012

City should not pre-judge Court Decision, says Friends of Lansdowne

Mayor Watson’s council is blundering ahead with a worsening Lansdowne plan – even before the court determines its legality.The City has recently issued a spate of reports, presentations and approvals for Lansdowne's redevelopment, all of which take for granted that the public-private partnership is going ahead. However, the very legality of the City's approval of the Lansdowne Partnership Plan has been under review by the Ontario Court of Appeal for three months. If the Friends of Lansdowne appeal is successful, the City's approval of the deal will be quashed and taxpayers' money being spent on this plan will be wasted.

"We want to remind people that there is a case before the courts, and it is not appropriate for any party to assume the outcome", says Doug Ward of the Friends of Lansdowne. "Friends of Lansdowne agreed to an expedited schedule for the Appeal because we wanted to avoid any further waste of public funds on a scheme we believe to be illegal. Yet the City has forged ahead, doing just that."