The Ontario Integrity Commissioner says it is reviewing a request from Premier Doug Ford’s office to investigate a senior aide about his role in selecting which lands in the protected Greenbelt would be approved for housing development.
Ontario’s auditor general recommended the province ask the integrity commissioner to determine if Housing Minister Steve Clark’s chief of staff, Ryan Amato, acted contrary to the Public Service of Ontario Act.
Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk said Amato told them he received packages from two prominent developers at a conference dinner last September that included proposals to build homes on protected Greenbelt land owned by the developers.
Amato told the auditor general he did not tell the developers that the province would open up the Greenbelt.
Lysyk said the developers who had access to Amato at the dinner ended up with 92 per cent of the land that was removed from the Greenbelt.
Amato did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
