Opposition leaders accused Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford on Thursday of being partially responsible for the behaviour of two former staffers alleged to have used their contacts in a real-estate rezoning scheme.
Oakville, Ont., property owner Amanpreet Jakhar and two numbered companies have filed a $2.2-million lawsuit against former government staffers Ryan Amato and Shiv Raj, as well as developer Frontier Group.
Jakhar is suing for negligence, breach of contract, fraudulent misrepresentation and other alleged offences. Jakhar and the companies say they wanted to have three properties rezoned so they could be developed. They allege Amato, Raj and the Frontier Group pledged to rezone those properties "using their backchannel contacts and political connections."
Amato and Raj, through their lawyer, denied the allegations as "false and baseless accusations which do not reflect the high level of integrity and professionalism" to which the men hold themselves.
Both acted in "full compliance with the law," Joshua Henderson said.
Frontier Group's lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but all three defendants have filed notices in court of their intent to fight against the lawsuit.
Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie said the allegations are reminiscent of Ford's now-reversed plan to develop the protected Greenbelt. That decision is now under criminal investigation by the RCMP and Crombie believes Ford has called the snap Feb. 27 election to outrun the results of that probe.
"The buck stops with Doug Ford," Crombie said at a campaign stop in Toronto. "He's responsible for the behaviour of his team and his staff."
NDP Leader Marit Stiles said 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 said in a statement.
Ford said he doesn't know anything about Jakhar's allegations.
"The premier is unaware of this lawsuit, and the province has no involvement in it nor has it ever considered any changes to these properties," said Grace Lee, Ford's campaign spokeswoman.
Jakhar claims he and the numbered companies signed a contract with Frontier to help with the strategy to secure the rezoning permits at a cost of more than $55,000 per month.
Jakhar alleged in court documents that his group wanted three properties rezoned. One is in Oakville, Ont., and was purchased in 2020 for $2.5 million with the intention to build a residential highrise.
They also wanted another property in London, Ont., bought for $760,000 in 2019, to be rezoned for industrial development. And they sought to rezone a third property in Grimsby, Ont., purchased for nearly $4.3 million in 2022, for commercial and residential purposes.
The lawsuit alleges that some of the money the plaintiffs were paying Frontier Group for work to get rezoning approvals would flow indirectly to Amato, who was then the chief of staff for former housing minister Steve Clark, and Raj, who was working in the premier's office at the time. Raj is currently volunteering on Ford's election campaign team.
Jakhar alleges he and the unnamed principals of the numbered companies approached Raj, an acquaintance, for help on the properties in the summer of 2023. Raj then allegedly introduced the group to Anthony Pollo, the vice-president of Frontier Group.
Raj, Pollo and Amato then allegedly told the group they could obtain rezoning permits for those properties within five to eight months, the suit claims.
Jakhar's group alleges they signed an agreement with Frontier with the strategy to meet with the premier's office, the housing ministry's staff and other ministries.
Jakhar's group paid $1.5 million in total for Frontier's services, but claims little was done.
"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 said in court documents.
The allegations have not been tested in court.
In late 2022, Clark announced the government would open up the protected Greenbelt for development in an effort to build 50,000 homes. It was part of Ford's promise to build 1.5 million homes by 2031.
Opening up the Greenbelt sparked a public outcry that hit a fever pitch in the summer of 2023.
Clark resigned in August 2023 in the wake of two legislative watchdogs' probes into the decision to remove 15 parcels of land from the Greenbelt. The auditor general and the integrity commissioner both independently found the government favoured some developers over others in the decision to pick which parcels of land would be removed for development.
The watchdogs found that Amato was the key figure who helped put together the list of properties the government would remove from the Greenbelt. He resigned a week before Clark and has denied any wrongdoing.
The auditor general said the small group of developers stood to benefit to the tune of $8.3 billion.
Ford walked the decision back and returned those lands to the Greenbelt in the fall of 2023.
"This is exactly why the Ford government is under RCMP investigation for the $8.3 billion Greenbelt scandal," Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner wrote in a statement Thursday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 6, 2025.
Allison Jones and Liam Casey, The Canadian Press
