The Integrity Commission and Auditor General of Ontario will launch an investigation Ford Govt. decided to open parts of green belt for development, acting on requests from Ontario NDP and other opposition parties.
The integrity commissioner on Wednesday granted a request from incoming Ontario NDP leader Marit Stiles to look into whether Housing Minister Steve Clark broke conflict of interest and insider information rules.
The province’s auditor general also released a letter Wednesday calling for a “value-for-money audit of the financial and environmental impacts related to recent government decisions affecting the greenbelt” from the leaders of the Ontario Greens, Liberals and NDP. accepted.
as well as premiere Doug Ford The office of Integrity Commissioner J.K. praised a new report by David Wake, which determined there was “insufficient evidence” to investigate the premiere itself on the question of whether developers were warned before parts of the greenbelt were removed in December ” Huh.
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In the wake of the controversial decision to remove 7,400 acres of land from the greenbelt and convert them into a housing development, political critics of the government submitted complaints to the Integrity Commissioner asking whether the Member’s Integrity Act had been breached and whether the developers owned or No. Bhumi was given advance notice of the decision.
Most of the questions came from a Toronto Star/Narwhal investigation that found a developer had purchased 700 acres of greenbelt land in September, weeks before the government announced plans to open that property to development.
In his report to the Ontario legislature, Wake questioned the conflict of interest raised by Green Party leader Mike Shriner and determined that there was not enough evidence to launch a full-scale investigation.
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“It is entirely possible that someone alerted one or more owners of the affected land to the change in the Greenbelt plan and the decision to select the land,” Wake’s report said. “I note that both the Premier and the Minister have denied doing so.”
Wake said he had not been provided with evidence that “either the premier or the minister had furthered his own personal interest” by approving the changes to the greenbelt.
Cody Welton, a deputy chief of staff to Premier Ford, described the Green Party’s complaint as “another baseless opposition complaint against the premier”.
While Wake declined one request for an investigation, he greenlighted a second request to investigate the actions of Minister Steve Clark surrounding the Greenbelt.
Merritt Style filed a complaint with the commissioner about whether Clark violated conflict of interest and insider information rules “in connection with a decision to allow development on land in the Greenbelt and Daffins Rouge Agricultural Preserve”.
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“Ms. Stiles submitted an extensive affidavit that included media articles but also direct evidence,” Jago said. “After assessing this information, I have decided to investigate.”
In a letter published Wednesday and sent to three opposition party leaders, Ontario’s auditor general Bonnie Lisic said she would conduct an audit around the Greenbelt decision.
On January 11, Liberal, Green and NDP leaders wrote to Lisk requesting a value-for-money and environmental audit of the Ford government’s decision.
“A letter requesting work in a specific area jointly signed by the leaders of all opposition parties in the Ontario Legislative Assembly is a request of high importance,” she wrote.
Lysyk said that the government had assured him that they would offer “full cooperation” during the audit, adding that “the exact scope of the audit has not yet been finalised,” considering specific requests set forth by opposition leaders. Will be done.
In a statement, Clark said he welcomed the integrity commissioner’s decision to dismiss the complaint from the Ontario Greens and “expects to be cleared of any wrongdoing” at the end of the investigation launched.
Ontario Liberal Interim Leader John Fraser said the investigation is “good news” for people in Ontario.
“It’s good news for Ontarians that the Integrity Commissioner and Auditor General have launched an investigation into the government’s move to carve up the greenbelt,” Fraser said.
“The more people looking at it, the better. It doesn’t smell right, and it smacks of insider trading.”
Both the Ontario NDP and the Greens also welcomed the move.
Stiles said that he was “relieved to see that this matter is being taken with the seriousness it deserves,” while Schreiner said that “people need to know that the premier has made up his mind not to touch the greenbelt.” Why broke the promise of the bar, not to open it. Development.”
The greenbelt deals, which were finalized in December, have also drawn a number of complaints to the OPP which has launched a preliminary investigation.
An OPP spokesperson told Global News “the review is ongoing.”
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