Google’s detailed plans for a 350-acre development in the Port Lands came as a complete surprise, said politicians from across the city, the province and the country on Friday.

Yet lobbying records reveal Google’s sister company, Sidewalk Labs, has been communicating frequently with a wide swath of elected representatives and staff. And Sidewalk’s own records mention “weekly briefings” with all three levels of government.

At city hall, at Queen’s Park and on Parliament Hill, government officials said the sprawling project revealed by the Star Thursday evening was not part of their discussions with Sidewalk Labs, which was selected only to plan development on a small, 12-acre plot of land known as Quayside.

“The revelations left me very highly disturbed because all along the understanding was that this project was for a smart city for the 12 acres, and it’s very clear that they want to control the destiny of the Port Lands. That’s never been in any kind of agreement,” said Councillor Paula Fletcher, whose Ward 14 (Toronto-Danforth) encompasses the Port Lands.

At Queen’s Park, a senior government official said the plan has no chance of proceeding.

“There is no way on God’s green earth that Premier Doug Ford would ever sign off on handing away nearly 500 acres of prime waterfront property to a foreign multinational company,” the source said.

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In Ottawa, a spokesperson for Infrastructure Minister François-Philippe Champagne said the deal with Sidewalk hasn’t changed.

“The scope of the Quayside redevelopment remains confined to a portion of the Port Lands and does not exempt Sidewalk Labs from any of the normal planning or regulatory processes at any of the three orders of government,” wrote Pierre-Yves Bourque in an email.

Their reactions came as a report in the Washington Post on Friday described how Google has used anonymous holding companies and confidentiality agreements to buy up land across the United States and secure tax breaks.

In Toronto’s Port Lands, Sidewalk Labs plans to kick-start development by investing heavily in underground infrastructure and financing a publicly owned light rail transit line, CEO Dan Doctoroff told the Star. In return, the company plans to recoup its investment and make a “modest profit” from a share of developer fees, increased property taxes and increased land value that come from its investment.

The company estimates this revenue stream, which it proposes to share with the city, could top $6 billion over the next 30 years.

“We’re prepared to take the risk up front of developing a model to help make that happen, and we’re prepared to essentially get paid back when we’ve demonstrated that it can be successful,” he said. “We don’t actually benefit until there’s successful development.”

On Friday evening, Sidewalk spokesperson Keerthana Rang said: “We are excited about the proposal that is coming together and we think Torontonians will be too.

“This project is for this city. We will submit a formal proposal for consideration to residents, (Google parent company) Alphabet, Waterfront Toronto and all three levels of government for review, feedback and decide if it should go forward.”

An internal Sidewalk presentation from November obtained by the Star claims the company was holding “weekly briefings with officials from the three levels of government,” and “regulatory dispensations” have been drafted to allow the plan to go ahead.

Lobbying records show Sidewalk Labs has more than 100 lobbyists registered with the three levels of government, and they’ve been communicating actively.

At the city level, Sidewalk Labs has more than 30 registered lobbyists who’ve held hundreds of meetings and phone calls with city staff about “proposed community services, seniors services, technology services and health services for the Port Lands and for Quayside on Toronto’s Eastern Waterfront.”

Sidewalk’s chief development officer, Joshua Sirefman, met Mayor John Tory to discuss “proposed planning strategies for the Port Lands and for Quayside on Toronto’s Eastern Waterfront” on Nov. 21 last year, shortly after the leaked presentation was made.

In a written statement released Friday afternoon, Tory said the city and Waterfront Toronto “have not received any formal proposal at this time and no permissions or dispensations have been granted.

“Any final proposal from Sidewalk Labs will be given full public scrutiny, subject to public consultation and discussion, and, ultimately, consideration by Waterfront Toronto and city council,” Tory said.

At the provincial level, 51 lobbyists from Sidewalk have registered to speak with MPPs about “the development of a new mixed-use community on Toronto’s Eastern Waterfront called Quayside and about the future revitalization of the Port Lands on Toronto’s Eastern Waterfront.”

“These communications will involve discussions about potential collaboration between Sidewalk Labs and the provincial government in the areas of transportation, affordable housing, renewable energy, waste management, technology services and community/health services. These communications will also involve discussions about privacy-related matters,” the lobbyist registry states.

On Parliament Hill, lobbying records show Sidewalk CEO Doctoroff met with Champagne, the infrastructure minister, in December, and followed up with his political staff and senior public servants multiple times. Doctoroff also met with Toronto-area MPs Marco Mendicino, Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, Adam Vaughan, Small Business Minister Mary Ng and Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen.

Between August and February, Doctoroff also met with senior public servants and political advisers from the Prime Minister’s Office, the Privy Council Office, Treasury Board, Infrastructure Canada and a smattering of other departments.

A federal government source, not authorized to speak publicly on the matter, told the Star that Doctoroff’s presentation was limited to the Quayside development rather than Sidewalk’s more ambitious vision for the Port Lands.

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The Star’s report fuelled calls at city hall for an end to Sidewalk Labs’ contract as a preferred development partner for Quayside.

Councillor Gord Perks said Toronto should “pull out immediately” from the whole project.

“There’s been a stink about this deal from day one and now we have a little better sense of what’s really going on. This was never the plan told to people at Toronto city council,” said the councillor for Ward 4 (Parkdale—High Park).

“There’s been bad faith and secrecy and it’s time for us to walk away and design what we want for that part of the city in an open and transparent manner, and then put it out for tender in a fair and open bidding process.”

Councillor Joe Cressy, whose Ward 10 (Spadina—Fort York) includes Quayside and who is the city representative on the Waterfront Toronto board, said he was taken aback by the Google plan.

“The final proposal will be and must be debated publicly, in a robust manner, and if it does not meet the public interest it will not have my support, full stop,” Cressy said.

“We have set out an objective to transform 12 acres of publicly owned real estate into a livable, affordable, sustainable neighbourhood. That needs to be done in a way that is not only appropriate but financed in a way that is in the public interest, not in the most convenient manner possible.

“We have the absolute right as the city and Waterfront Toronto to say no if we aren’t satisfied with the deal,” Cressy said.

The vast majority of the Port Lands is owned by the city, according to a staff report from March 2018. Only 11 per cent is privately held, while another 11 per cent is owned by the province.

Councillor Fletcher highlighted the investments governments have made in the Port Lands.

“The city just passed the Port Lands planning framework; we’re in the middle of building Villiers Island; our governments are spending $1.25 billion to flood-proof the land and rebuild the mouth of the Don (River); we’re trying to get an end to some leases to release some land for development. This is a 20- or 30-year plan we’re working away at.

“It looks to me like Sidewalk wants to jump over everything and say they can do everything better and faster. These are very big boots coming into the city.”

Deputy Mayor Denzil Minnan-Wong, Toronto’s representative on the Waterfront Toronto board from 2010 to 2014, said he never saw the plans that Sidewalk Labs was showing to Google.

“From the day that Google came to the city, I was concerned that they had designs on more than Quayside,” Minnan-Wong said. “Waterfront Toronto and Sidewalk need to disclose their intentions. They haven’t been completely open with the public. I have always been suspicious Google wants to make a play for the Port Lands, a valuable city asset that needs to be developed properly.

“There has to be a discussion on how it gets developed, and it can’t be behind closed doors on the 13th floor of 20 Bay St.,” Minnan-Wong, said referring to the Waterfront Toronto offices.

“City council needs to be part of this discussion. Waterfront Toronto will undoubtedly make a play to take control of the Port Lands from the city and we need a vigorous debate at city council, and that hasn’t happened yet.”

After a curtain of condos sprang up along the west downtown lakeshore, Waterfront Toronto was set up to co-ordinate shoreline redevelopment. Funded by the three levels of government, Waterfront Toronto co-ordinates projects but the city has final say over the fate of the majority of the Port Lands it owns.

Julie Di Lorenzo, a developer who quit the Waterfront Toronto board over concerns about the control being given to Sidewalk Labs, said she was not surprised by the company’s ambitions. She questioned the prospect of a company getting a share of property taxes resulting from Port Lands development.

“Why would the city need anyone from outside to do tax increment financing when we have the best-in-class in Toronto in finance, green knowledge, infrastructure and development … ,” Di Lorenzo wrote in an email. “Those tax revenues are needed to serve public services provided by democratically elected government.”

Kristyn Wong-Tam, who represents downtown Ward 13 (Toronto Centre), tweeted: “A tech giant never having built transit + city infrastructure anywhere, or even pitched a dime for the $1.25B for Port Lands flood protection, has the audacity to stake claim for future land value, property taxes + development charges on land they don’t own.”

David Rider is the Star’s City Hall bureau chief and a reporter covering Toronto politics. Follow him on Twitter: @dmrider

Robert Benzie is the Star’s Queen’s Park bureau chief and a reporter covering Ontario politics. Follow him on Twitter: @robertbenzie

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