Integrity Commissioner finds no grounds to investigate Ford stag and doe

Ontario’s integrity commissioner has found no grounds under the Integrity Act to investigate Premier Doug Ford over his daughter’s stag and doe and wedding, which was attended by some developers.

However, Integrity Commissioner J. David Wake revealed that the Chair of the PC Ontario Fund sold 20 tickets to the stag and doe, some to developers.

“I found it interesting that (developer Sergio Manchia of UrbanCore Developments) stated that the tickets to the stag and doe were purchased from Tony Miele who is the Chair of the PC Ontario Fund, the fundraising arm of the Ontario PC Party.”

Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles had requested the investigation, asking Wake to look into the events as they related to the “curious timing of recent purchases of Greenbelt land by powerful landowners with donor and political ties to the Ontario PC Party.”

Ford has acknowledged that some developers, who are friends, attended the $150-a-ticket stag-and-doe event for his daughter last summer, and media reports say lobbyists and government relations firms were also invited.

Stiles said the event raised the appearance of a conflict of interest, but in his final decision Wake said that wasn’t enough.

“I have explained previously the ‘reasonable and probable grounds’ threshold that the Act requires for me to commence an inquiry. It is a higher bar than many members of the public and many members realize, requiring more than having a ‘reasonable suspicion.’ ”

Report Re Premier Ford – September 21, 2023 by CityNewsToronto on Scribd

Wake initially put Stiles’ request on pause back in March, but released his official decision on Thursday, saying he “determined that there are insufficient grounds to warrant an inquiry as to whether the premier has contravened the Act with respect to the two wedding events.”

Back in February, Ford vehemently denied any wrongdoing.

“I know the difference of what we should and shouldn’t do,” Ford said, adding that he knows “hundreds of developers” and that everyone is welcome at his home any time they have an event.

“When we have Ford Fest and 6,000 people show up to our house over a five-hour period, I don’t sit at the door with a metal detector and start checking names,” he said, referring to an annual public gathering hosted by his family.

Last year, the province took about 2,995 hectares of land out of the Greenbelt to build 50,000 homes and replaced them with about 3,804 hectares elsewhere.

The moves were part of the government’s pledge to address the housing crisis by promising to build 1.5 million homes over 10 years.

But the Greenbelt file turned scandalous after two damning watchdog reports, saying the process was flawed and favoured certain developers.

That led to the resignations of housing minister Steve Clark, and most recently minister of Public and Business Service Delivery of Ontario, Kaleed Rasheed, who stepped down on Wednesday.

More to come