Ontario housing minister’s chief of staff resigns after critical auditor-general’s report on Greenbelt land deals

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Ontario Premier Doug Ford listens as Ontario’s minister of housing Steve Clark speaks during a news conference in Mississauga, Ont., on Aug. 11.Cole Burston/The Canadian Press

A senior Ontario government staffer at the centre of the controversial decision to remove land from the Greenbelt has resigned less than two weeks after a scathing report from the Auditor-General.

Ryan Amato, chief of staff to Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Steve Clark, resigned effective immediately, Premier Doug Ford’s office announced late Tuesday afternoon.

Mr. Ford’s government has faced significant criticism over its decision last fall to redraw the boundaries of the protected Greenbelt and remove 3,000 hectares, which it said was needed to build more housing.

An investigation by Auditor-General Bonnie Lysyk found the government’s process was a “biased” process led by Mr. Amato that “favoured certain developers” and lacked environmental or financial analysis. The report estimated, based on 2016 data from the Municipal Property Assessment Corp. (MPAC), that the landowners of the 15 formerly protected sites opened up for housing last year could see their worth balloon by more than $8.3-billion.

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Ms. Lysyk’s report found all but one of the properties that the government removed from the Greenbelt last fall were identified by Mr. Amato after he received documents from two prominent developers at an industry event last September requesting lands to be removed.

“Direct access to the Housing Minister’s chief of staff resulted in certain prominent developers receiving preferential treatment,” Ms. Lysyk said in her report.

Both Mr. Ford and Mr. Clark have said they weren’t aware of the way Mr. Amato had chosen the specific sites and weren’t aware of the properties until just days before they were presented to cabinet.

Following the release of the report, Mr. Ford asked the province’s Integrity Commissioner J. David Wake to review the conduct of Mr. Amato to determine if he violated the Public Service of Ontario Act. This was one of 15 recommendations in Ms. Lysyk’s report.