THUNDER BAY — Local Progressive Conservative MPP Kevin Holland is backing Premier Doug Ford’s decision not to turf Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Steve Clark from the portfolio.
Integrity Commissioner J. David Wake found Clark to have contravened two sections of the Members’ Integrity Act, “failing to oversee the process by which lands in the Greenbelt were selected to development.”
The report accused Clark and the Ford government of undertaking a process that was marked by misinterpretation, unnecessary hastiness and deception.
Holland, the MPP for Thunder Bay-Atikokan and a former parliamentary assistant under Clark, said the minister has done a remarkable job.
“He was given a monumental task to build 1.5 million homes over the next 10 years. We’ve taken very seriously the Auditor General’s report and now the integrity (commissioner) has substantiated what the auditor general has said,” Holland said on Thursday.
“I think both the premier and Minister Clark were very clear, right from the auditor general’s report that we’re going to implement 14 of the 15 recommendations coming out of that report. Moving forward, Minister Clark acknowledged the buck stops with him, that there were processes that needed to be addressed and we’re committed to addressing those processes that were identified in the auditor general’s report.”
Ford, speaking to media in southern Ontario, said Clark’s job is safe.
“I’m going to have confidence in Minister Clark. I’m going to have confidence in my other ministers. We’re going to move forward with building homes,” Ford said. “That’s it.”
Ontario’s Geenbelt was created in 2005, the aim to protect more than two million acres of green space in Toronto’s Golden Horseshoe area, which includes Toronto, Hamilton and Oshawa. Ford’s plan to remove lands from the Greenbelt has been met with plenty of opposition, including from Hamilton Mayor Andrea Horwath, who called on Ford to abandon the development plan.
Horwarth’s comments came after the Auditor General’s report showed the province’s preferred developers, who had undue influence on the process according to the report, stood to gain $8.3 billion in value from the sale.
Earlier this week, the Chiefs of Ontario demanded all removed Greenbelt land parcels be returned and called for Clark's resignation or removal as minister.
“From First Nations’ point of view, the situation in its entirety is corrupt,” said Grand Chief Joel Abram, Association of Iroquois and Allied Indians (AIAI).
“We will continue to support the RCMP in its considerations to conduct a full investigation into this matter.”
