Opposition calls on Ontario housing minister to resign after damning Greenbelt report

Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles is calling on Premier Doug Ford to recall the legislature and for a key member of his cabinet to resign after a blistering report from the province’s auditor general.

Flanked by two opposition MPPs, Stiles called the Ford government’s handling of the removal of the Greenbelt “corruption” and said Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Steve Clark should resign or be fired.

“This is part of an obvious culture of corruption across this conservative government,” she said. “The process is rigged to serve the very wealthy and the very powerful.”

The Leader of the Opposition spoke to reporters just under an hour after Ontario’s auditor general, Bonnie Lysyk, released a blistering report into the Ford government’s decision to remove 7,400 acres of land from the Greenbelt.

The auditor general said a small team within the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing was given just three weeks to evaluate land to remove from the Greenbelt, based largely on a list of areas identified by Clark’s chief of staff.

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2:44 Doug Ford acknowledges Greenbelt controversy, doubles down on commitment to housing

The team was bound and hampered by strict confidentiality agreements, Lysk said. The majority of land removed from the Greenbelt in November 2022 belonged to a couple of well-connected developers who had access to Clark’s chief of staff, the auditor general said.

She estimated the value of their land increased by $8.3 billion.

When asked by reporters if he would resign, Clark said the premier continued to back him.

“I appreciate the confidence that the premier has in me and my staff,” he said.

Clark didn’t directly answer questions about whether or his chief of staff, at the centre of the report, would resign.

“I appreciate the support that the premier’s given to me and my team,” Clark repeated after being asked directly about Ryan Amato, who according to the government website and LinkedIn is his chief of staff.

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Stiles’ demands for a recall and resignation came as part of a chorus of outrage from the province’s opposition parties.

Ontario Liberal Leader John Fraser said the process revealed by the auditor general was “not the way things work” and suggested Clark and Ford must have been aware of the controversial Greenbelt process.

As part of her probe, Lysyk interviewed Ford, who denied having personal conversations with developers about the land swap or personally selecting the lands that were eventually removed from the Greenbelt.

The premier, the report states, was given a briefing on Nov. 1, 2022 — one day before the announcement was made public — and was then shown the 15 pieces of land slated for removal.

Ford claimed that was the first time he reviewed the specific list of Greenbelt lands and indicated that he did not “instruct political or non-political staff to have certain land sites removed from the Greenbelt.”

Fraser said he didn’t think Clark and Ford could be unaware.

“I don’t believe for a minute that the minister or premier didn’t know and that their officers didn’t know,” he said. “It’s just not plausible.”

Former Liberal premier Kathleen Wynne said that she doesn’t believe her predecessor could have been unaware of the process.

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“It’s very hard for me to believe that the minister and the premier did not know what was going on, that they did not know that these parcels of land had been suggested by these particular developers,” she said.

Wynne is no stranger to controversy, taking over for Dalton McGuinty, who was involved in the gas plant scandal. Wynne was a senior member of McGuinty’s cabinet when the scandal took place.

“None of that looks above board. It looks like there was a huge bias,” she said.

When talking about repercussions, Wynne said there should be consequences, given the auditor general determined significant flaws and mistakes in the process.

“[I thought] that there would have been some sort of accountability in terms of Steve Clark stepping down. Something I would have expected is some kind of accountability,” she said. “As far as the future of the premier and the future of the ministers, they’re going to have to live with their own conscience. “

The NDP called repeatedly for Clark to step down.

“The premier must immediately recall the legislature,” Stiles said. “The premier must do that so we can reverse course and return these lands to the Greenbelt.”

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She added Clark should resign or “be removed from cabinet immediately.”

Fraser echoed Stile’s demand to recall the house, though he said it was unlikely to happen.

— with files from Global News’ Ahmar Khan

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