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A former senior aide to Ontario Premier Doug Ford violated provincial lobbying rules while attempting to have a client’s land removed from the Greenbelt, the province’s integrity commissioner said.
The new findings made public on Monday detail violations of Ontario’s Lobbyists Registration Act by consultant lobbyist Nico Fidani-Diker, a former Ford staffer with close ties to the Progressive Conservative Party. According to the integrity commissioner’s investigations, in 2022, Fidani-Diker offered Toronto Maple Leafs tickets to two public officials while lobbying them on behalf of a client seeking Greenbelt land removals. He also lobbied officials with whom he had close political and personal ties.
The Greenbelt is a protected area of green space, farmland, forests, wetlands, and watersheds in southern Ontario.
The provincial watchdog’s investigation found that Fidani-Diker failed to properly register his lobbying activities, withheld required details from his lobbying report about what regulatory changes he was seeking and placed public office-holders in potential conflicts of interest — all in efforts tied to Greenbelt development.
The commissioner concluded that Fidani-Diker’s actions “undermine the Act’s purpose of transparency and public confidence in the independence of public sector decision-making.”
Fidani-Diker also failed to provide sufficient information in lobbying registrations related to clients seeking amendments to the regulations governing Greenbelt boundaries, and a minister’s zoning order intended to increase permitted building height and density on a client’s property.
Fidani-Diker did not respond to Canada’s National Observer’s request for comment by deadline, but in a statement to Global News he accepted “full responsibility” for the findings and claimed it was never his intent to be in non-compliance while lobbying. “These oversights were mine and mine alone.”
In December 2022, the Ford government removed about 3,000 hectares from the Greenbelt for housing development, as part of its plan to build 1.5 million homes over the next decade. After public backlash and critical reports from the Auditor General and integrity commissioner, Ford reversed the decision. The Auditor General found that certain developers with ties to then-Housing Minister Steve Clark’s chief of staff, Ryan Amato, received preferential treatment, though Amato was not named in the report. Both Ford and Clark claimed they were unaware of Amato’s role in selecting the lands. The RCMP has since launched a criminal investigation into the $8.3-billion Greenbelt land swap. Clark and Amato both resigned amid the scandal.
In response to Canada’s National Observer's request for comment, a spokesperson for the premier’s office said the government was not involved in the matter and had no information beyond what was released by the integrity commissioner. “We expect that anyone engaging with or advocating to the government complies with all rules and regulations as set out in legislation.”
Despite the findings, the commissioner has not issued a lobbying ban against Fidani-Diker or any of the individuals named.
Opposition leaders were quick to respond and criticize the Ford government’s handling of the Greenbelt.
Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles called for a permanent lobbying ban for Fidani-Diker and described the findings as an example of the “cash-for-access culture” she says persists in the Ford government. Stiles also noted the ongoing RCMP investigation and said her party will use “every tool available” to uncover the full story.
Ontario Greens Leader Mike Schreiner told Canada’s National Observer the integrity commissioner’s report reinforces his belief that “Doug Ford clearly can’t be trusted with the Greenbelt.”
“Let’s be clear: the buck stops with the premier,” Schreiner said. “This is yet another blatant violation of ethics in his attack on the environment. Ontarians deserve a government with transparency and integrity and one that will protect the places we love – not sell it off to the highest bidder.”
Schreiner called for comprehensive reforms to strengthen Ontario’s lobbying rules and oversight powers, including stronger penalties. He said the case highlights the need to give the integrity commissioner more authority to investigate political staff who fail to act transparently and ethically. He also stated that he would continue pressing the government to improve integrity measures and hold those in power accountable for protecting farmland and the Greenbelt.
“There need to be tougher rules in place to prevent this kind of lobbying from happening in the first place,” he said.
Abdullah Mir, a member of Stop Sprawl Durham, a group that has actively opposed the Ford government’s Greenbelt decisions, said the findings are another example of how closely connected political insiders continue to benefit from decisions that hurt environmental protections.
“It is unfortunate that time and again, as investigations unfold, it appears that this government and its associates past and present continue to get implicated in various lapses in judgment and violations,” Mir said. “At some point, apologizing is not sufficient and we have to realize that this government’s priority is not working for the people of Ontario.”
Phil Pothen, land use and land development program manager at Environmental Defence, said the integrity commissioner’s findings prove the Greenbelt scandal is “far from over.”
Pothen urged the province to expand the Greenbelt to include more vulnerable lands under threat from urban sprawl, stressing that land speculators have demonstrated they will exploit every possible avenue to weaken its protections.
“Ontario citizens must be forever diligent as land speculators have shown that they will use every trick in the book to destroy the permanent protection of the Greenbelt,” he said.
Abdul Matin Sarfraz / Canada’s National Observer / Local Journalism Initiative.
Comments
When it comes to Doug Ford, nothing is surprising with his secret deals, zero transparency and questionable actions. Though Doug claims to have no knowledge, I am sure he had his hand in there somewhere, Ontarians are not that dumb to see through this Greenbelt scandal. His biggest donors are developers and have always wanted the Greenbelt opened for development.
Nice try Doug, your hands are dirty on this matter despite your denials.
Every time he opens his mouth, lies spout out. As I said before: mini-Trump 1.0.
Stories like this make me wonder how it is possible that BC's Agricultural Land Reserve survived the onslought for 53 years. The old Social Credit Party of BC made Doug Ford's Conservatives look like amateurs in demolishing land use planning in favour of tacky suburban cul de sacs.
I think scarcity played a big role. Only 4% of BC's land area is arable, and a sizeable portion of the ALR has some of the best food growing soil on the continent, mainly in river valleys. It also helps that the ALR is science based, being designed to conserve five classifications of soil. I don't believe it would have been as clear if it was based only on land use alone without a highly technical and very defendable scientific foundation.
These are lessons for Canadian provinces as the US continues to erode trade relations. We import a huge amount of food from California and Florida, and big American companies control a significant amount of farms in Mexico and Latin America. Politics and climate-caused drought are now moving together to limit production and distribution of veg and fruits.
Right now we're arguing over steel and aluminum, but food is far more important because it is BOTH a commodity and a necessity.
There is a huge and quickly growing sentiment in Canada that we need to become more self sufficient economically. That should apply equally to food security. And that starts with farms closest to our cities and towns.
Smaller farms growing a diversity of market garden food crops and small livestock for urban will no dought evolve in Canada as food imports are affected by climate and politics.
There are some experimental solar heated greenhouses growing oranges and bananas in northern Sasakatchewan in February. Why can't this be expanded at scale to feed nearby cities? There are lots of greenhouses on ALR land in BC's Lower Mainland that utilize heat produced by burning the captured methane from landfills. (Yes, they emit CO2, but that is far less egregious than emitting pure methane.) Copenhagen does the same and expands it into a central heat distribution system.
In any case, protecting food producing soils has proven to be a very resilient policy. You can't eat plastic houses and asphalt.
"...for urban consumption will no doubt evolve..."
"a sizeable portion of the ALR has some of the best food growing soil on the continent, mainly in river valleys"
You mean like the Peace River Valley around the Site C Dam, too??? And that was done in by an NDP government, wasn't it? Starting "Liberal" but in the end approved by the NDP?
The days of the SoCreds were just a long time ago. That's the only difference.
The problem is that the citizenry now has no party aligned with their needs, even, much less their druthers ... despite what democracy is supposed to imply.
You are correct. The NDP were against Site C but then finished what the "Liberals" (cloaked conservatives) started under Gordon Campbell and got to the point of no return under Christy Clark. The power will no doubt go to the LNG industry which is just getting ready to export soon, making Canadian LNG "green." What a laugh.
LNG may have a decade of exports, but their export markets are building renewables which will displace a sizeable chunk of LNG shipments in the 2030s. Oil and gas are looking at rusted assets beyond the mid-2030s.
The soil now covered by the Site C reservoir was very high quality and had enormous food growing potential, according to a study done by a Vancouver agrologist. It was planted only in hay and pasture grasses just before flooding, but its loss of potential capacity will be noted in some quarters in future when Canada faces food security supply chain shortages through climate change effects in the growing regions for our imported food, namely California and Mexico. What made that particular site unique was its south facing bench below the harsh winds of the flat prairie above and the longer growing season due to its northern latitude.
BC's Fraser Valley around Cloverdale and the Sumas Prairie contains the richest and deepest agricultural soil in the country.
I'm shocked, shocked I say that Doug Ford's officials would be involved in dirty dealings! Why, the thought of that model of probity touched by such scandal--you could knock me over with a feather!