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Premier Doug Ford's Ontario

At least they didn't try to put the blame on Dalton McGuinty.

Ontario's integrity commissioner is considering a request from Premier Doug Ford's government to investigate if the housing minister's chief of staff broke any ethics rules connected to the province's choice of Greenbelt land to open for development.

A spokesperson for David Wake's office said Thursday that if an investigation is launched, it would determine whether political staffer Ryan Amato "acted contrary to the requirements of the Public Service of Ontario Act, 2006," which include conflict of interest rules.

The request, which was made by Ford's office, is "under review," the spokesperson said. It comes in the wake of an explosive report from Ontario's auditor general that concluded the government's Greenbelt land swaps in 2022 were heavily influenced by a small group of politically connected developers.

At a news conference Wednesday, both Ford and Clark denied they had knowledge of how Amato and his team were selecting sites for removal from the Greenbelt. When asked whether Amato would keep his job, Clark refused to answer directly.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/housing-minister-chief-staff-integrity-commissioner-1.6932582
 
tripwire said:
I find it unbelievable that there hasn't been any immediate resignations/firings, let alone backtracking on the whole thing. How can you trust a government when they are blatant crooks? I mean, no gov't is perfect and there's always pork etc. But this is on a whole new level IMHO.
Click to expand...

This really makes the call for a BC-style Voter Recall mechanism here.

That law in BC is well structured so that is almost ever used or attempted to be used; it sets a very high bar for triggering a recall by-election.

That said, the threat of its use, (petition starting) has resulted in at least one resignation in BC politics.

For those interested in this concept:

1691687362067.png


From: https://elections.bc.ca/recall-initiative/recall/
 
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Thinker said:
It's Ford! He runs a majority government, he knows there is very little the opposition can do. He will not resign, nor will he fire anyone since he is an accomplish and knew darn well what was cooking in the friends and family kitchen. He is a control freak and regardless of his denials, redirections, he knew what was going on. The statement he is not friends with hs builders buddies makes me laugh. Can we all agree no one invites "builder strangers" to a family wedding?
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It's a den of thieves acting like some third world cartel. Ford knows there will be no whistle blowers coming from this group, and with his majority he may as well be saying to all, "screw off, you fools, no problem here ".
 
tiffer24 said:
At least they didn't try to put the blame on Dalton McGuinty.

Ontario's integrity commissioner is considering a request from Premier Doug Ford's government to investigate if the housing minister's chief of staff broke any ethics rules connected to the province's choice of Greenbelt land to open for development.

A spokesperson for David Wake's office said Thursday that if an investigation is launched, it would determine whether political staffer Ryan Amato "acted contrary to the requirements of the Public Service of Ontario Act, 2006," which include conflict of interest rules.

The request, which was made by Ford's office, is "under review," the spokesperson said. It comes in the wake of an explosive report from Ontario's auditor general that concluded the government's Greenbelt land swaps in 2022 were heavily influenced by a small group of politically connected developers.

At a news conference Wednesday, both Ford and Clark denied they had knowledge of how Amato and his team were selecting sites for removal from the Greenbelt. When asked whether Amato would keep his job, Clark refused to answer directly.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/housing-minister-chief-staff-integrity-commissioner-1.6932582
Click to expand...
As expected, Doug is shoving Mr Amato under the train - of course Ford never heard of him (or probably Minister Clark) until yesterday so HE could not be liable for anything! No doubt Mr Amato will go to work (more openly!) for a developer very soon.
 
DSC said:
As expected, Doug is shoving Mr Amato under the train - of course Ford never heard of him (or probably Minister Clark) until yesterday so HE could not be liable for anything! No doubt Mr Amato will go to work (more openly!) for a developer very soon.
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Having a handy underling 'take one for the team' is time-tested in both the private and public section.

I'm always amused when the 'I didn't know what was going on'' and 'the buck stops with me' are used in the same sentence and we are supposed to believe either of them.

Although they seem to have some concerns 'with the process', they seem quite unashamedly happy with the outcome.
 
Ontario Premier Doug Ford will be speaking alongside Housing Minister Steve Clark in Mississauga on Friday, days after a scathing report found the government’s Greenbelt plans “favoured” certain developers.

At the recommendation of the auditor general, the Premier’s Office has requested the Ontario integrity commissioner to investigate the way Amato handled the file. A spokesperson has confirmed they are currently reviewing the request.
If the integrity commissioner decides to pursue an investigation, he will look into whether Clark’s chief of staff “acted contrary to the requirements of the Public Service of Ontario Act.”

This includes reviewing potential conflicts of interest.

In addition, the report found that political staff received emails from lobbyists and other external parties on personal email accounts, which were then forwarded to their government emails. There were also instances in which government emails were forwarded to personal accounts, contrary to cybersecurity guidelines.

“Communication between lobbyists and political staff using their personal email accounts also creates the perception of preferential access and treatment, and thereby an unfair advantage to those receiving unauthorized confidential information from political staff,” the report found.

Emails were also “regularly being deleted by political staff,” the auditor general said.

https://www.cp24.com/news/premier-d...steve-clark-to-make-an-announcement-1.6514945
 
flonicky said:
I'm surprised there were emails to delete. This government has strongly dissuaded written communication in favour of verbal communication in the public service. This prevents a trail of evidence when there are controversies and makes it easy to set up a fall guy.
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Trust me, it is not limited to "this government".

tiffer24 said:
Ontario Premier Doug Ford will be speaking alongside Housing Minister Steve Clark in Mississauga on Friday, days after a scathing report found the government’s Greenbelt plans “favoured” certain developers.

At the recommendation of the auditor general, the Premier’s Office has requested the Ontario integrity commissioner to investigate the way Amato handled the file. A spokesperson has confirmed they are currently reviewing the request.
If the integrity commissioner decides to pursue an investigation, he will look into whether Clark’s chief of staff “acted contrary to the requirements of the Public Service of Ontario Act.”

This includes reviewing potential conflicts of interest.

In addition, the report found that political staff received emails from lobbyists and other external parties on personal email accounts, which were then forwarded to their government emails. There were also instances in which government emails were forwarded to personal accounts, contrary to cybersecurity guidelines.

“Communication between lobbyists and political staff using their personal email accounts also creates the perception of preferential access and treatment, and thereby an unfair advantage to those receiving unauthorized confidential information from political staff,” the report found.

Emails were also “regularly being deleted by political staff,” the auditor general said.

https://www.cp24.com/news/premier-d...steve-clark-to-make-an-announcement-1.6514945
Click to expand...
One more reason why I think "political staff"; i.e. neither elected nor public servants, being involved in public policy and the functioning of the government, are an affront to democracy.
 
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