NDP files complaint over Doug Ford family events linked to developers

The complaint comes as the Star reported that provincial appointees and a lobbyist sat alongside Ford and developers at the wedding of the premier’s daughter last summer.

Thestar.com
Feb. 24, 2023
Kristin Rushowy

NDP Leader Marit Stiles has filed a complaint with the provincial integrity commissioner saying “concerning details have come to light” about Premier Doug Ford’s ties to developers.

In her letter to J. David Wake, Stiles writes that “developers and lobbyists with donor and political ties to Premier Doug Ford and the Ontario PC Party … (were) invited to participate in two Ford family events. The premier is obligated to avoid conflict and the appearance of conflict.

“Given this, I am requesting an opinion on whether the premier has acted improperly with respect to these events.”

News of Stiles’ complaint came as the Star reported that provincial appointees and a lobbyist sat alongside Ford and developers at the wedding of the premier’s daughter last summer, according to a seating chart.

A number of developers attended the wedding, as well as a stag-and-doe party for the bride and groom prior to the nuptials and just months before protected lands were removed from the Greenbelt.

One of the wedding guests -- who sat at a table with Ford -- landed a position on a provincial agency two months later. Another is lobbying for a housing developer to open up Greenbelt lands.

The premier has said the wedding is a private matter, saying “my family is separate from the political process. They aren’t involved.”

In an email to the star, the Office of the Integrity Commissioner of Ontario confirmed it had received Stiles’ request “to provide an opinion on whether the

Honourable Doug Ford, Premier of Ontario and MPP for Etobicoke North has contravened (the Members’ Integrity Act). The matter is under review.”

The email said the commissioner could find no grounds to investigate, or will proceed with one. If a violation is found, the commissioner “is required to make a recommendation in his report with regards to a penalty.”

Penalties include a reprimand, a suspension or that the member’s seat be declared vacant -- but any action would have to be approved by the legislature.

In her complaint, Stiles said “several of the individuals and developers who attended the subsequent wedding have received favourable minister’s zoning orders and at least one has benefitted from recent policy changes related to Greenbelt land removals.”

“I am concerned that invitees felt pressured to contribute to the premier’s family fundraiser, particularly as some invitees felt they weren’t being asked as ‘friends’ of the premier -- but as government stakeholders -- and feared impacts on their professional reputations and working relationships with the government.”

Ford approached the integrity commissioner months after the $150-a-ticket stag and doe, and was cleared based on information he provided.

In the legislature Thursday, Stiles -- calling the events Ford “family fundraisers” -- asked, “How are Ontarians supposed to trust that this government has their interest at heart with this cloud of suspicion hanging over them about this government and who has access to them? Ontarians deserve a government they can trust.”

House Leader Paul Calandra called it “an unimpressive start for the leader of the opposition” -- Stiles took the helm of the provincial NDP on Feb. 4.

He said Stiles “wants the premier of this province to ask his daughter to table in the legislature the guest list to their wedding. That is what she is asking. I don’t even know what to say about that.”