Doug Ford’s Tories brace for auditor’s report into controversial Greenbelt land swap

Premier Doug Ford huddled with Municipal Affairs Minister Steve Clark and top aides Tuesday on the eve of a potentially explosive auditor general’s report into their controversial Greenbelt land swap.

Thestar.com
Aug. 9, 2023
Robert Benzie, Rob Ferguson

Premier Doug Ford huddled with Municipal Affairs Minister Steve Clark and top aides Tuesday on the eve of a potentially explosive auditor general’s report into their controversial Greenbelt land swap.

Ford, Clark and senior staff gathered in the premier’s office for 75 minutes, discussing their next moves.

The premier, who last week privately implored Progressive Conservative MPPs to rally behind his embattled minister, has been bracing for a critical report from auditor general Bonnie Lysyk.

A grim-faced Clark emerged from the Queen’s Park meeting 10 minutes after Ford left, saying he would wait until the audit is released at 11 a.m. on Wednesday before commenting.

“I’ll be here tomorrow,” he said, walking down the stairs with staffers in tow.

At issue is the Progressive Conservative government’s opening up of 7,400 acres of the two-million-acre Greenbelt to allow 50,000 homes to be built. In exchange, 9,400 acres have been added elsewhere to the swath of environmentally sensitive lands.

Ford has insisted “we have nothing to hide” about his surprise changes to the Greenbelt last fall that benefited some wealthy developers with Tory connections.

The premier emphasized no one was tipped off to the November boundary amendments, which affect 15 plots of land in King, Vaughan, Richmond Hill, Pickering, Markham, Whitchurch-Stouffville, Clarington and Hamilton.

Lysyk’s probe -- which was conducted while Integrity Commissioner J. David Wake looks into the Greenbelt deals -- has been a source of frustration to the government since she began it last January.

“It’s not even within her scope. She has to look for value for money,” Ford told reporters on July 13.

“Everyone in our office is co-operating with the integrity commissioner and with the auditor general. Folks, we have nothing to hide,” the premier said, suggesting Lysyk, whose 10-year term ends next month, was acting beyond her mandate.

“The difference between the integrity commissioner (is) that (he) puts his scope out there versus the auditor general that (this) isn’t even in her realm -- that’s the difference. I encourage everyone to co-operate,” he said.

Michelle Renaud, spokesperson for the integrity commissioner, said Tuesday that Wake’s review is “ongoing.”

The ethics watchdog for MPPs also launched his investigation last January.

Ford -- like former Liberal premier Kathleen Wynne before him -- has been leery of what he’s called “jurisdictional creep” in Lysyk’s audits.

Last December, the premier expressed concern after the auditor general dispatched undercover agents to casinos to prove money could be laundered there.

The unusual approach -- using “secret shoppers” to pose as gamblers -- was criticized by the Ontario Provincial Police for needlessly diverting law-enforcement resources and by Ford.

“Focus on where there’s (a) waste of money. You can’t do a sting operation. You can’t all of a sudden deputize yourself and think you’re the secret service,” he chided Lysyk on Dec. 1.

Despite such difference with the auditor general, the Tories are mindful of the problematic optics swirling around the Greenbelt.

NDP Leader Marit Stiles, who requested the parallel probes from the independent legislative officers, said last week said “something smells fishy.”

“The walls are closing in on this Conservative government,” said Stiles, who will hold a news conference at Queen’s Park immediately after Lysyk tables her findings.

For their part, the Tories are expected to point out that the Liberals made 17 boundary changes to the Greenbelt in 2017, which totalled around 340 acres.

As part of her investigation, Lysyk tried to speak to two developers who benefited from the Tories’ Greenbelt shift.

But Michael Rice and Silvio De Gasperis separately filed court applications to block or delay her order to be interviewed under oath and hand over pertinent documents.

Each argued they were private citizens and that Lysyk was overreaching her authority.

Meanwhile, the Ontario Home Builders’ Association, an influential lobby group for property developers, has said the sudden departure of its chief executive officer had nothing to do with the auditor general’s report.

Luca Bucci, a former chief of staff to Clark at the Ministry of Municipal Affairs before joining the OHBA in June 2022, parted ways with the homebuilders’ organization last Tuesday.

Emma Maynard, an association spokesperson, said “the transition of the OHBA CEO is an internal operational matter and not related to any provincial investigations.

“We have no further comment at this time,” said Maynard.

Bucci, who has not returned a message seeking comment, was a key player in crafting Ford’s plan to build 1.5 million new homes in the next decade to tackle Ontario’s housing crisis.