Opposition leaders accused Progressive Conservative Chief Doug Ford on Thursday of being partially chargeable for the behaviour of two former staffers alleged to have used their contacts in a real-estate rezoning scheme.
Oakville, Ont., property proprietor Amanpreet Jakhar and two numbered corporations have filed a $2.2-million lawsuit towards former authorities staffers Ryan Amato and Shiv Raj, in addition to developer Frontier Group.
Jakhar is suing for negligence, breach of contract, fraudulent misrepresentation and different alleged offences. Jakhar and the businesses say they needed to have three properties rezoned so that they may very well be developed. They allege Amato, Raj and the Frontier Group pledged to rezone these properties “using their backchannel contacts and political connections.”
Amato and Raj, by their lawyer, denied the allegations as “false and baseless accusations which do not reflect the high level of integrity and professionalism” to which the lads maintain themselves.
Each acted in “full compliance with the law,” Joshua Henderson mentioned.
Frontier Group’s lawyer didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark, however all three defendants have filed notices in courtroom of their intent to combat towards the lawsuit.
Liberal Chief Bonnie Crombie mentioned the allegations are paying homage to Ford’s now-reversed plan to develop the protected Greenbelt. That call is now below felony investigation by the RCMP and Crombie believes Ford has known as the snap Feb. 27 election to outrun the outcomes of that probe.
“The buck stops with Doug Ford,” Crombie mentioned at a marketing campaign cease in Toronto. “He’s responsible for the behaviour of his team and his staff.”
NDP Chief Marit Stiles mentioned the “rot starts at the top.”
“Time and time again, Doug Ford has shown us who he is – someone who used his time in government to enable billions of dollars’ worth of corruption, oversee backroom deals to enrich insiders, and create a culture of cash-for-access to sell off our province for bags of cash,” Stiles mentioned in a press release.
Ford mentioned Jakhar’s allegations had been information to him.
“First of all, I didn’t know anything about this, and I don’t get involved in stuff like that,” he mentioned.
Jakhar claims he and the numbered corporations signed a contract with Frontier to assist with the technique to safe the rezoning permits at a price of greater than $55,000 per 30 days.
Jakhar alleged in courtroom paperwork that his group needed three properties rezoned. One is in Oakville, Ont., and was bought in 2020 for $2.5 million with the intention to construct a residential highrise.
Additionally they needed one other property in London, Ont., purchased for $760,000 in 2019, to be rezoned for industrial improvement. And so they sought to rezone a 3rd property in Grimsby, Ont., bought for almost $4.3 million in 2022, for industrial and residential functions.
The lawsuit alleges that a few of the cash the plaintiffs had been paying Frontier Group for work to get rezoning approvals would circulation not directly to Amato, who was then the chief of workers for former housing minister Steve Clark, and Raj, who was working within the premier’s workplace on the time. Raj is at the moment volunteering on Ford’s election marketing campaign group.
Jakhar alleges he and the unnamed principals of the numbered corporations approached Raj, an acquaintance, for assistance on the properties in the summertime of 2023. Raj then allegedly launched the group to Anthony Pollo, the vice-president of Frontier Group.
Raj, Pollo and Amato then allegedly instructed the group they might get hold of rezoning permits for these properties inside 5 to eight months, the swimsuit claims.
Jakhar’s group alleges they signed an settlement with Frontier with the technique to fulfill with the premier’s workplace, the housing ministry’s workers and different ministries.
Jakhar’s group paid $1.5 million in whole for Frontier’s companies, however claims little was executed.
“None of the properties were rezoned in the 5-8 month period, none of the properties have since been rezoned, and following inquiries by the plaintiffs, apart from soil testing and some preliminary contact with the respective municipalities, no steps have been taken by the defendants to rezone the properties,” Jakhar’s group mentioned in courtroom paperwork.
The allegations haven’t been examined in courtroom.
In late 2022, Clark introduced the federal government would open up the protected Greenbelt for improvement in an effort to construct 50,000 houses. It was a part of Ford’s promise to construct 1.5 million houses by 2031.
Opening up the Greenbelt sparked a public outcry that hit a fever pitch in the summertime of 2023.
Clark resigned in August 2023 within the wake of two legislative watchdogs’ probes into the choice to take away 15 parcels of land from the Greenbelt. The auditor basic and the integrity commissioner each independently discovered the federal government favoured some builders over others within the resolution to select which parcels of land can be eliminated for improvement.
The watchdogs discovered that Amato was the important thing determine who helped put collectively the checklist of properties the federal government would take away from the Greenbelt. He resigned per week earlier than Clark and has denied any wrongdoing.
The auditor basic mentioned the small group of builders stood to profit to the tune of $8.3 billion.
Ford walked the choice again and returned these lands to the Greenbelt within the fall of 2023.
“This is exactly why the Ford government is under RCMP investigation for the $8.3 billion Greenbelt scandal,” Inexperienced Celebration Chief Mike Schreiner wrote in a press release Thursday.
Ford mentioned Thursday he has not been interviewed by the RCMP in its Greenbelt probe, however he doesn’t know if any of his staffers have been questioned.
“I don’t go around asking people in our office, that’s up to them,” he mentioned.
“And what I have said is let’s co-operate 1,000 per cent because we did nothing wrong.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first printed Feb. 6, 2025.
Allison Jones and Liam Casey, The Canadian Press
Ontario PC Celebration Chief Doug Ford seems at a press convention in Pickering, Ont., Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Younger
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