Doug Ford said Monday he would allow some development in the Greenbelt — the world’s largest permanently protected green space — if elected premier this spring, to ease the housing crisis in the Greater Toronto Area.

The Liberals pointed to an online video of Ford — apparently taken in early February when he was a Tory leadership candidate — promising to open up a “big chunk” of the protected area.

When asked Monday about the video, Ford said he supports the protected green space but would allow development in some areas to create more supply in the housing market, including more affordable housing.

For every piece of the Greenbelt opened for development, Ford said he would add equivalent land to the protected area to ensure it doesn’t change in size, but he didn’t offer details on how that would work.

“I give you my commitment, that anything that we look at on the Greenbelt will be replaced,” he said. “So, there’ll still be the equal amount of Greenbelt.”

Ford said the only way to bring down housing costs in the Toronto region and make the market more affordable is to increase the supply.

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