Housing minister Steve Clark apologizes, won’t resign amid Greenbelt scandal

Beleaguered Housing Minister Steve Clark addressed Ontarians hat in hand on Thursday to “accept responsibility” for his lack of oversight over the province’s scandalous Greenbelt land swap.

More notable was what he didn’t have in his hands — his resignation.

Clark maintained he would stay on in his role with a firm mandate to build 1.5 million homes over the next decade.

It was no surprise that Clark didn’t resign amidst calls for him to step down. At an earlier news conference in Etobicoke on Thursday morning, Premier Doug Ford made it clear that Clark would remain in his current position.

“We’re going to work with Minister Clark as we work with the other ministers to fulfil our mandate,” Ford said. “Our mandate is to build homes.”

While Ford angrily clashed with reporters who grilled him about the integrity commissioner’s damning Greenbelt report, Clark was comparatively contrite.

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“Under my watch, there should have been better oversight,” Clark said under searing questioning from reporters.

“I apologize to Ontarians that I did not provide more oversight …”

The integrity commissioner concluded Wednesday that Clark violated two sections of the Members’ Integrity Act that governs politicians’ ethics, conflict of interest rules and insider information rules when the province removed land from the protected Greenbelt for development.

Clark said he fully accepted “the criticism that the integrity commissioner has levelled against me.”

“We need to assure that the public trust and confidence is restored,” he said.

The province has already taken steps to make that happen, Clark stressed, after it moved to return two parcels of land slated for development in Ajax back to the Greenbelt after the owner listed them for sale.

Clark said that the move “shows we are serious” about making amends.

“Ontarians need to have a process that builds public trust and transparency,” he maintained.

“We are going to implement a better process moving forward. I’m here to accept responsibility.”

“I overly relied on my Chief of staff,” he said, referring to Ryan Amato, who Integrity Commissioner J. David Wake found was the “driving force” behind the lands that were selected to be developed.

Amato resigned from his position earlier this month after the auditor general found the Ford government gave preferential treatment to certain developers.

With files from Michael Ranger and The Canadian Press