Only one of the four Progressive Conservatives who lost their jobs in the Greenbelt imbroglio has been interviewed by the RCMP in a probe that began two years ago, the Star has learned.
While the Mounties have spoken with at least two dozen current and former aides to Premier Doug Ford as part of their investigation into the $8.28 billion land swap scandal, detectives have not met with the two former cabinet ministers and one top aide forced to walk the plank.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police officials were tight-lipped when contacted about the second anniversary of launching their criminal inquiry.
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“Be assured that the RCMP is conducting a thorough investigation. That investigation is ongoing. To protect the integrity of the investigation, we cannot provide information at this time,” the federal force said in a statement.
“The RCMP must ensure that criminal investigations are not compromised by sharing information publicly.”
But sources, speaking confidentially in order to discuss a police matter, say Jae Truesdell, Ford’s former housing adviser, sat down with investigators shortly after their probe began on Oct, 10, 2023.
Truesdell left Ford’s office on Sept. 21, 2023, the same day the panicked premier reversed course on his plans to allow developers to build housing on 7,400 acres of environmentally sensitive land in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area.
The former aide was interviewed by detectives from the RCMP “O” Division’s Sensitive and International Investigations unit, the branch that investigates corruption and political crimes.
However, the other three Tories who fell on their swords — former housing minister Steve Clark, former business minister Kaleed Rasheed, and Clark’s former chief of staff, Ryan Amato — have not been interviewed by police.
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All four men have maintained they did nothing wrong with some Tory insiders privately referring to them as “collateral damage” when the government was scrambling to deal with the Greenbelt fallout in 2023.
Ford, for his part, has pledged to co-operate with the Mounties and has encouraged his current and former staff to help with the investigation.
However, like Clark, Rasheed and Amato, he has not been asked to meet with detectives.
“As we’ve always said, we will assist the RCMP in any way. Further questions regarding the investigation should be directed to the RCMP,” the premier’s office said in a statement this week.
That has not stopped Ford from opining on the issue.
“Can I tell you something? People don’t give two hoots about this Greenbelt. That’s done, that’s gone — and we’re moving forward,” he insisted on June 17.
“When we do our polling, it doesn’t even show up,” the premier noted, referring to the detailed public-opinion research his party does monthly on numerous issues.
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Two years ago, the polls told a different story, which is why Ford parted ways with ministers and key aides as the Tories’ popularity was in free fall.
Provincial Politics PC support is sliding as Greenbelt fallout continues, poll suggests
The $8.28-billion Greenbelt land swap scandal appears to be taking a bigger bite out of Premier
“It was a mistake to open the Greenbelt,” the visibly rattled premier said in Niagara Falls on Sept. 21, 2023.
“I’m very, very sorry. I made a promise to you that I wouldn’t touch the Greenbelt. I broke that promise. As a first step to earning back your trust, I’ll be reversing the changes. We moved too quickly and we made the wrong decision … it caused people to question our motives.”
In August 2023, the auditor general and the integrity commissioner, independent legislative watchdogs, each released separate reports that revealed developers with ties to the Tories were “favoured” in the unusual process that led to the 15 parcels of land rezoned for housing.
Provincial Politics Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservatives ‘favoured certain developers’ in controversial Greenbelt plan, auditor general finds in scathing report
In a 93-page report to the legislature, Bonnie Lysyk said the Tories did not need the 15 parcels
Nine months earlier, a joint Star and Narwhal investigation had found a majority of those properties slated for redevelopment had been bought up when the land was still under Greenbelt protection — and after Ford’s Tories were elected in 2018.
Fourteen of the 15 parcels of land were personally selected by then-minister Clark’s chief of staff Amato — with input from some developers.
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW Original Star/Narwhal Investigation They recently bought Greenbelt land that was undevelopable. Now the Ford government is poised to remove protections — and these developers stand to profit
An association representing developers said the GTA is in “the midst of a housing crisis” and
The ex-aide, who resigned when the watchdog reports were released, has always said he was just following orders, a sentiment widely shared at Queen’s Park, a centralized workplace where political staff rarely act without approval from the premier’s office.
Clark, who stepped down as housing minister about three weeks before Ford abandoned the Greenbelt scheme, is now government house leader. He has also said he did nothing untoward.
Rasheed quit as Ford’s business minister and was forced to leave the Tory caucus after misleading the integrity commissioner about a 2020 Las Vegas trip with Shakir Rehmatullah, a Ford friend who had stakes in two small parcels totalling about 23 acres that were initially removed from the Greenbelt near Markham and Whitchurch-Stouffville.
Truesdell was on that Vegas vacation along with Amin Massoudi, who was the premier’s principal secretary at time and is now a lobbyist linked to the Tories’ $2.5 billion Skills Development Fund that was the subject of a critical auditor general’s report last week.
Provincial Politics Ford government’s handling of Skills Development funds ‘not fair, transparent or accountable,’ auditor finds
In a critical audit, Shelley Spence said Ford’s Ministry of Labour awarded money to “low- and
Rasheed has always said he made “an honest mistake” when he told the integrity commissioner the jaunt had taken place eight weeks earlier than it had.
The former Mississauga East-Cooksville MPP, who did not seek re-election in February, was not involved in any Greenbelt decisions though he and Rehmatullah were long-time friends.
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Sources also say the Mounties have not spoken with the key developers whose land was initially removed from the protected two-million acre GTHA swath.
“No one’s heard anything — it’s radio silence,” said one insider, who is friendly with many of the current and former Ford aides interviewed earlier in the RCMP investigation.
But other Tories, mindful of the slow pace of complicated police probes, warn it would be foolhardy to assume the matter will quietly fade away.
“They’re not spending two years doing nothing,” said a second PC source.
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