on at $1,000 to $1, 200° per ‘acre, or a total cost of about $5 million. (The Ontario Housing Corp. is now paying $29.1 million for only 840 acres, mostly serviced — an indica- tipn of the way that land has soared in value around Tor- onto. ) CHIEF DEVELOPERS But Taylor, an executive of the Eagle Star Insurance Co., a-~British concern, and Arm- strong, a speculator, were the chief developers after the or- inal backers pulled out. ie Star and Close Broth- ers, a British banking outfit, are now the chief financial ‘angels. What Taylor and Arm- ong did was to revive a faltering scheme by first di- ele Bramalea holdings to include shopping centres, onstruction companies, tour- )F LAND ONTARIO tc w home in Toronto hit the i year, according to figures ago and double the dverage new home in this eSponsible for the price in- ‘Sell for $8,000 now sells for 4 fo a building association it would bring t,resorts, hotels, and a farm all of which pumped capital a SO the venture until the big z could be made. ations between the de- ers and the Clark-head- wnship Council were ‘Two members represent- gle Star, and stood to very time the Council modated the developers. first dubious deal hap- ‘May, 1967, when the Housing Corp. offered 66 lots in Bramalea million. That eight per cent of twice the or- iginal investment — a wind- fall for the developers. COUNCIL’S OK NEEDED But the Council’s okay was needed. The Toronto Tele- gram says the okay was given at a secret meeting between developers and reeve on May 12th, 1967. Clark denied that there had been a secret meeting — but if so, some astounding co- incidences on the stock mar- ket were the result. Bramalea shares, bogged at around $8.60 to $9.00, soared the next week to $11.70 (24,- 587 were traded). On May 26th the OHC offer went to Council. INSIDER TRADING But the money made there was “chicken feed,” says Stewart. The real profits have come through “insider trad- ing,” for early on, Taylor and Armstrong were given options to buy 35 thousand and 17 thousand shares eco ey, at $5.00 per share. ‘Until May 31st, neither ed exercised the option. But then — with Council in the bag —. they started to buy — and buy — and buy. And they used up their options. And they were given NEW options in May, 1968! Taylor bought 20,000 shares at $5.00 on October 2nd, 1967. Market value was $14.25. Minimum instant profit was $185,000. Two days later, Armstrong bought 7,000 shares, and his minimum in- stant profit was $64,750. heey they made even more, unloading stock grad- ually as the price built up to $38 on the exchange. In two years and three months, Taylor made over $600,000 and Armstrong over $550,000. SECOND TRANSACTION Then came the second HOME transaction, in April 1969. The OHC bought 4,602 town-house lots at $4,000 each, a total of $18.4 million. That’s 18 houses to the acre — the acre which originally cost about $1,100. Therefore, $20,000 an acre fully serviced (it cost about $1,000 each to service the lots) sold for $72,000. That’s another $52,000 profit PER ACRE. The developers were sup- posed to match each $57 of residential assessment with $43 of industrial assessment, or make up the difference in cash. The difference cost them $225 thousand in 1968. Then came the “deal” — no further responsibility in exchange for $11 million flat. The $11 million covered not only the HOME lots but an additional 1,400 single and semi-detached lots released by the Township for the de- velopers’ own use. Arithmetic? A profit of $7.4 million. More profit on the 1,400 lots, which will sell for $10 million. Etcetera, etcerera. CRIME COMMISSION Clark, despite admissions to the Roach Crime Commission about crap-shooting at illegal gambling clubs, despite being found-in at another crap-game since, is buddy-buddy with the Tory government in Queen’s Park, says Stewart. He’s now a “consultant” for another development outfit in the area. And Taylor and Armstrong, neither of whom would live in Bramalea, are rich ... rich... rich. And the homeowner pays $225.85 a month for ‘house, lot, ete. Is that the way to solve the housing crisis? No way, says Stewart. -There’s a better way to get truly cheap housing, says Stewart. SASKATOON PLAN In Saskatoon, the munici- pality has for years been buy- ing up large tracts of land, which it sells at cost. You can buy one for about $3,500. In Bramalea, it costs you $9,200. But if you’ve got the cash to buy the Bramalea lot, you can sell it at up to $5,000 profit! Everybody speculates, ev- erybody makes pots of money —except the average guy who just wants a home at reason- able cost in a reasonable com- munity. “With planning and deter- mination,” Stewart says, “we could build satellite cities that were truly cities, not just pro-- fit factories, and we could help to pay for them with some of the profit now flowing into a few pockets.” -But that, he says, would take more government par- ticipation than we’ve got to- day. “They would require land eee subsidized mort- gages, long - term planning, and the meddling of govern- ment in a hundred areas now in the hands of the develop- er. The Bramalea way pro- duces nothing — thanks to greed — but an “expensive, profitable mess.”