Rickard Campaign Releases Documents Showing Years of City Hall Assistance to Landowner Behind $40-Million Frenchman's Bay Sale

Pickering, ON — Shaun Rickard, candidate for Mayor of Pickering, today released Freedom of Information (FOI) documents detailing a multi-year relationship between City Hall and the Pickering Harbour Company (PHC) — the same landowner now selling the 174-acre Frenchman's Bay property for $40 million.

The Sale

600 Liverpool Road West — encompassing roughly 133 acres within Frenchman's Bay and 34 acres of adjoining shoreline, most of it zoned R4 Residential — is currently listed for sale at $40,000,000 and is under a conditional offer (Sold Conditional Escape clause), pending due diligence. The buyer has not been publicly identified. The property has been on the market since October 2023, when it was first listed at $60 million; the City of Pickering's own purchase offer was turned down that November, and the asking price was later reduced to $40 million. City Council authorized a renewed purchase attempt in August 2026.

What the FOI Documents Show

Documents obtained by the campaign through Freedom of Information requests show:

• November 4, 2016: The City of Pickering's Chief Administrative Officer formally requested that the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) shrink the exclusion zone surrounding the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station, specifically to enable a proposed residential and commercial development on PHC's waterfront lands, with a stated construction target of spring 2018.
• April 11, 2019: City staff signed a letter authorizing PHC's planning agent to include City-owned parking lot lands adjacent to 591 Liverpool Road in their private redevelopment “visioning exercise” for the site.

“This isn't a rumour or speculation — it's on paper, in the City's own records,” said Rickard. “Residents deserve to know that the same company selling this land today is the same company City Hall was quietly helping for years beforehand.”

The 2019–2020 Tower Fight

In 2019, a related proposal — twin high-rise condominium towers on this same stretch of waterfront, partly within the nuclear exclusion zone — drew opposition from thousands of residents, including a petition signed by more than 13,000 people. Rickard was the Pickering resident who spearheaded and led that fight. In July 2020, Pickering's planning committee unanimously rejected the proposal, citing eight separate planning concerns; the decision was formalized by Council later that month. The campaign notes for the record that Kevin Ashe, then Deputy Mayor and serving as Acting Mayor at the time while Mayor Dave Ryan was on medical leave, publicly announced and defended that rejection.

“We won that fight in 2020,” Rickard said. “But the underlying zoning never changed, and now the land itself is changing hands. This isn't over — it's a new chapter of the same story.”

A Second Waterfront Concern: Annland and Wharf

Separately, a residential proposal a few blocks from the bay — at 640 Liverpool Road and adjoining lots on Annland and Wharf Streets — has grown from an originally approved 51 units to a current application for 91 units. Liverpool Road terminates at the waterfront and does not connect through, making it the sole road in and out of the entire waterfront node.

Rickard's Commitments as Mayor

Rickard has committed to:

• Making the acquisition and permanent protection of Frenchman's Bay in public hands a first-term priority, backed by a real funding plan.
• Voting against any zoning amendment that would bypass the City's existing density caps on Liverpool Road.
• Requiring an independent traffic and emergency-access study before any approval of increased density on Liverpool Road.
• Guaranteeing permanent, unobstructed public access to the waterfront in any future development.

Ongoing Transparency Requests

On June 24, 2026, Rickard personally submitted formal Freedom of Information requests to the City of Pickering seeking records on Council-conduct and integrity costs, security and meeting-format costs, Council and Mayor expenses, Northeast Pickering servicing, Elexicon, and naming-rights agreements. The campaign will publish a fully detailed report based on verified findings once that information is received, and will post updates on the campaign website and social media accounts.

Important updates pertaining to the sale of Frenchman's Bay are coming soon.

About Shaun Rickard: Shaun Rickard is a Pickering resident and candidate for Mayor who led community opposition to the 2019–2020 waterfront tower proposal. He is running on a platform of Responsible & ethical Development, capping property taxes, stopping fiscal waste, demanding Accountability, protecting Pickering's waterfront & greenspaces and bringing greater transparency to City Hall.

Media Contact:
Shaun Rickard
E: Shaun@ShaunRickardForMayor.ca
W: www.ShaunRickardForMayor.ca

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