Premier Kathleen Wynne’s Liberal government has put up a “for sale” sign on a large swath of Pickering land — just in time for a Durham byelection next month.

With voters in nearby Whitby-Oshawa expected to go to the polls Feb. 11 to elect a successor to former Progressive Conservative MPP Christine Elliott, the Liberals on Thursday announced the Seaton lands are finally on the market.

That’s the area along Highway 407 adjacent to a massive federal-owned tract set aside generations ago to build an airport in Pickering.

The Ontario government expropriated the Seaton lands in the 1970s to build a new town to serve the airport that never materialized.

With Ottawa unlikely to proceed with a Pickering airport, Queen’s Park has long been working with the local council and developers to build a new “sustainable community” for 70,000 people,

Economic Development, Employment and Infrastructure Minister Brad Duguid said more than 1,000 acres are being sold, with the proceeds going toward building new infrastructure.

“By selling this provincial asset, our government is helping build Ontario up, emphasizing sustainable communities and supporting families across the GTA and beyond,” Duguid said in a statement.

There will be about 800 acres of “employment lands” and 269 acres of “residential and mixed use lands” sold for many millions of dollars, which the government believes will support 35,000 jobs.

The public sale, which is being conducted on the open market, will be handled by CBRE Ltd. and should be completed by the end of the year or early in 2017.

Infrastructure Ontario, a government agency, prepared the property for marketing.

“The sale of the Seaton lands marks another milestone towards making the vision of Seaton a reality,” Bert Clark, Infrastructure Ontario president and CEO, said in a statement.

Pickering Mayor Dave Ryan, whose city of 94,000 people has been working on developing Seaton for years, hailed the announcement as a “major step in allowing the private sector to get started on the creation of 35,000 well-paying new jobs.”

Ryan noted the city already “boasts one of the strongest clusters” of energy, environmental, and engineering companies in the province and the new development should “attract even more of these progressive and innovative companies to our city.”

While the project has been a big regional issue for some time, it does not fall within the riding of Whitby-Oshawa, which the Liberals hope to pick up after Wynne calls the byelection, likely next Wednesday.

The Seaton lands are in neighbouring Ajax-Pickering, held by Liberal MPP Joe Dickson, so it remains to be seen whether the new suburban development will be a hot topic with voters.

“It’s an issue that’s been discussed at Durham regional council,” said Durham councillor Lorne Coe, the Progressive Conservative candidate in Whitby-Oshawa.

His main opponent in a riding that has been Tory for more than 20 years is fellow regional councillor Elizabeth Roy, who is carrying the Liberal banner.

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Niki Lundquist, a lawyer with Unifor, Canada’s largest private-sector union, is the NDP candidate.

•With files from Rob Ferguson

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