Moves by Premier Doug Ford's government to grant special permission to pave over a protected wetland in Pickering have generated headlines, but behind the controversy, there's an untold story. 

That story involves a battle between rival developers and rival municipalities to get the chance to build what would become the largest retail warehouse in Canada, a project worth hundreds of millions of dollars that multiple sources say is for Amazon. 

The battle is playing out just east of Toronto near Highway 401, on two pieces of property less than one kilometre apart: one in the city of Pickering on a provincially designated wetland, the other in the town of Ajax on a golf course. 

Whichever site clears all of its legal and zoning hurdles first will be in the driver's seat. The landowner's property value will skyrocket and the project will bring at least $50 million in new tax and development revenue to one of the municipalities.

While the Toronto Region Conservation Authority (TRCA) has vigorously objected to plans to build on the wetland in Pickering, it is not opposed to the plan for the golf course in Ajax.

A tale of two properties: a wetland and a golf course

However the Ford government has gone to great lengths to smooth the way for the warehouse to go on the Pickering wetland. That property belongs to the Triple Group of Companies, owned by the Apostolopoulos family, backers of the nearby Durham Live casino complex.

The government issued a ministerial zoning order last fall to fast-track the project. In December, it reduced the power of local conservation authorities to block development on wetlands. Last week, it introduced legislation to rewrite provincial law retroactively to bolster its case against environmental groups trying to persuade a court to scupper the development. 

The battle could soon reach its climax. The province has ordered the TRCA to issue Triple Group a development permit for the Pickering wetland by Friday. 

The Triple Group is offering to give the TRCA $3.5 million plus a 38-hectare agricultural property about 12 kilometres to the north in exchange for the destruction of the wetland. TRCA says the compensation is inadequate because a maximum of five hectares of wetland could be created on the agricultural property, barely one-quarter the size of the wetland that would be paved over.