Dirty Money, Shady Deals, and a Million-Dollar Lawsuit - What's Happening in the Latest Doug Ford Scandal
New lawsuit alleges that 2 of Doug Ford's senior staffers promised to use their influence to secure Greenbelt land for private developers.
The Greenbelt scandal just got a whole lot… messier.
Earlier today, The Trillium broke the story that two staffers at the centre of Ford’s Greenbelt scandal are now being accused of promising to help land developers — get a slice of Greenbelt land — for cash.
Dirty Deeds, Done Dirt Cheap
Ryan Amato (the former Chief of Staff to Ford’s Housing Minister, pictured above) and former Ford staffer Shiv Raj are being sued by a collection of property developers (led by Amanpreet Jakhar) for negligence, breach of contract, fraudulent misrepresentation, conspiracy… among other charges.
The lawsuit alleges that during a meeting in Summer 2023, Amato and Raj agreed to use their political connections to secure permits for the property developers:
“Shiv and Ryan falsely represented at the meeting that they had the experience and expertise to assist in obtaining a rezoning of the Properties and they would work with Frontier Group, using their backchannel contacts and political connections to facilitate and secure rezoning approvals for the Properties.”
By the end of this meeting, the property developers claim that they entered into an verbal agreement with Amato and Raj, in which they agreed to “provide lobbying services” to secure preferred re-zoning approvals in the Greenbelt within 5 to 8 months.
Perhaps most damning of all, the lawsuit alleges that both parties agreed that payment for services would effectively be laundered through a third party (“Frontier Group”) and then paid to both Raj and Amato for services rendered.
These payments totalled $1.5 million.
Caught Red-Handed
While both men strongly deny the lawsuit’s claims, independent investigations from the province’s official watchdogs have concluded at least one of them was directly involved in selling Greenbelt land to developers.
Back in August 2023, Amato resigned his government position in disgrace after the Ontario Auditor General’s scathing report identified him as the architect of the province’s scheme to open up the Greenbelt to private housing development.
According to the Integrity Commissioner’s report:
“Mr Amato was the driving force behind a flawed process which provided an advantage to those who approached him”.
As for Shiv Raj, he previously worked in Doug Ford’s office from 2018 to 2023. According to his LinkedIn page, Raj is currently working on Ford’s re-election campaign team.
When asked to comment, Ford’s spokesperson denied they were aware of the lawsuit and had any involvement.
Next Steps
In many ways, the ongoing Ontario election is a referendum on Doug Ford’s leadership. Some critics have even claimed that Ford called the election to distract from this enormous, ongoing Greenbelt scandal.
With the trade war with America postdated another 30 days, it looks like domestic issues (including the Greenbelt scandal) will finally drive the messaging in this election.
That means looking into how the Ford government has (mis)managed the healthcare crisis, housing shortage, and higher education hellscape.
And that’s bad news for Doug Ford.