Hazel McCallion’s 2nd conflict-of-interest hearing starts
Posted April 3, 2013 6:07 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion is once again defending her right to stay in office amid a second conflict-of-interest hearing that started Wednesday morning.
McCallion is accused of voting in favour of a bylaw and amendments at the Region of Peel council on development charges while her son was involved in a deal to build a $1.5-billion hotel and convention centre near Mississauga city hall.
The Ontario Superior Court is hearing motions from lawyers Wednesday.
In 2007 McCallion voted for amendments that would’ve exempted companies with development projects already in the works from the new and higher development fees, including World Class Developments (WCD), the company her son Peter had an equity stake in.
McCallion claims she wasn’t aware of the full scope of her son’s position with WCD and that she didn’t know the company qualified for the exemption.
The Mississauga mayor is accused of breaching the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act. Toronto Mayor Rob Ford was found to have violated the provincial law last fall but won an appeal of the decision.
In October 2011, a near two-year-long judicial inquiry found McCallion was in conflict of interest when she intervened in a land deal involving the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS), which owned the land in question, and WCD for the proposed hotel and convention centre complex.
The development plan ultimately failed and Sheridan College built a campus at the site.
The inquiry results did show McCallion was in compliance with the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act but her discussions with private parties involved in the deal didn’t fall within its jurisdiction.
That inquiry dealt with negotiations on the city level, while the latest case deals with McCallion’s actions on the regional level.