The chief of staff to Ontario’s Minister of Housing has resigned after he was recently called out for having a hand in the province's controversial Greenbelt land swap for development.
According to a report from the Toronto Star, Housing Minister Steve Clark’s chief of staff, Ryan Amato, stepped down from his political aide role on Tuesday. His resignation comes two weeks after Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk released a report that indicated he did not follow specific guidelines when it came to choosing the majority of the protected parcels of land to be removed from the Greenbelt for development.
“The premier’s office has accepted Ryan Amato’s resignation as chief of staff to the minister of municipal affairs and housing, effective immediately,” Ivana Yelich, Premier Doug Ford’s deputy chief of staff, told the Toronto Star on Tuesday.
Shortly after the 2022 provincial election, government staffers were told to find 22 parcels of land from the Greenbelt to build 50,000 homes on.
Amato is said to have received packages from two prominent land developers during a dinner last September, that included specific parcels of the Greenbelt to select for development. Those lands were later announced as the sites chosen just weeks later last November. As a result, the owners of these lands selected could receive a more than $8 billion increase to the values of their properties.
Lysyk’s report also said only 22 sites were assessed for removal, and other sites that may have met the development criteria were ignored. The majority of the 7,400 acres that were removed from the Greenbelt were selected as a result of developer influence on Amato, her report stated.
The report also said that some of the parcels chosen actually failed to meet development criteria, and Lysyk said the process for choosing sites was then changed to allow the pieces of land owned by developers to be removed.
Following the release of Lysyk’s report, Ford said his government would move to implement 14 of 15 total recommendations made. The only recommendation Ford said his government will not accept is to reevaluate the land swaps and consider reversing them.
NDP Leader Marit Styles issued a statement following the news of Amato's departure calling his resignation the "bare minimum" of taking accountability.
"The Auditor General’s report was very clear—this staffer obviously didn’t act independently," Styles said. Now it’s time that the Minister take responsibility, do the right thing, and step down."