Local Politics: Influencing the Unmovable The Case of Downsview Park

The objective of my research was to understand how the City of Toronto's local politicians influenced – and continue to influence – the Downsview Park development. Downsview Park is "Canada's National Urban Park" and has consistently made media headlines for all of the wrong reasons. After years of inaction, development is currently underway to construct a 1356 unit community of mixed housing, while the rest of the park remains largely vacant with some uses. I focused on understanding the local political influences that have shaped Downsview Park to what we see today. In order to establish my research objective, I began with a literature review of various secondary research sources. Media articles, video clips, academic journals and government documents were compiled and evaluated. During this process, I attended various public meetings and compiled notes of what was said, and who attended. In addition, my primary research consisted of semi-structured interviews as a means to collect personalized information from key stakeholders. This was done to fill in gaps that I could not fill from my secondary research. The goal of the interviews was to gain an impression of how each stakeholder interacted with one another. The results of my research revealed that, in theory, the local politicians have limited influence on how Downsview Park is shaped. The federal government (under the umbrella of Crown Corporations Parc Downsview Park and the Canada Lands Company) has the ability to implement and build any development project without going through municipal processes and policies. Local politicians have the ability to delay the process only if the Crown Corporations fail to comply with municipal policies. The interactions of the Federal Government with the local stakeholders has created a noteworthy relationship; residents, and the Downsview Lands Community Voice Association feel insignificant and polarized because they believe the Federal Government only sees dollars signs. This suggests that there is a significant disconnect between what local constituents desire and what the Federal Crown Corporations view as being responsible development. This research also provides insight into how neoliberal tendencies in them way Downsview Park operates infiltrate stakeholder interactions and development