Ontario MPP Kaleed Rasheed resigns from Ford's cabinet following Greenbelt probe
CBC News | Posted: September 20, 2023 7:57 PM | Last Updated: September 21, 2023
Move follows Housing Minister Steve Clark's resignation over handling of land swap earlier this month
Mississauga East-Cooksville MPP Kaleed Rasheed has resigned from cabinet and the Ontario Progressive Conservative caucus in the wake of an integrity commissioner probe into the province's Greenbelt land swap.
Rasheed's resignation comes after reporting from CTV and the Trillium questioned the timeline about a trip to Las Vegas.
In his investigation into the controversial decision to open portions of Ontario's protected Greenbelt land to housing development, the province's integrity commissioner interviewed Rasheed about the trip after the Trillium reported that Rasheed travelled there with Amin Massoudi, then Ford's principal secretary, at the same time as developer Shakir Rehmatullah.
Rehmatullah's company owns land that was among the parcels removed from the Greenbelt in November 2022 for housing development. Rehmatullah is the founder and president of Markham, Ont.-based Flato Developments, which was behind three successful requests to remove land from the Greenbelt in Markham and Whitchurch-Stouffville last fall, according to the province's integrity commissioner.
Rasheed, Massoudi and Jae Truesdell — at the time in the private sector but who now serves as Ford's director of housing policy — told the integrity commissioner they went to Las Vegas in December 2019. Rasheed and Massoudi "briefly encountered" Rehmatullah there, they said.
Massoudi told the integrity commissioner he had only met Rehmatullah a handful of times, including at the wedding of Ford's daughter. Rasheed said he and Rehmatullah are close friends and Rasheed's wife worked for the developer.
Rehmatullah said he was in Las Vegas in December 2019 and late January to early February 2020 and recalled seeing Rasheed in a hotel lobby on one of the trips.
MPP to 'take the steps required' to clear his name
CTV News reported this week that Rasheed, Rehmatullah and Massoudi got massages on Feb. 1, 2020 at the same Las Vegas hotel spa. A spokesperson for Rasheed told the outlet the trip was originally booked for December 2019 but got rescheduled and Rasheed "mistakenly" shared incorrect information with the integrity commissioner based on the original itinerary.
In a statement on X, formerly known as Twitter, Rasheed, who served as minister of public and business service delivery, said he will continue to serve his constituents.
"While incredibly difficult, this decision was made so as not to distract from the important work of the government," he said in the statement, adding he will "take the steps required" to clear his name.
In a separate statement, Ontario Premier Doug Ford said himself and Rasheed have "agreed" to the resignation, effective immediately.
"If Mr. Rasheed can clear his name through the Office of the Integrity Commissioner, he will be provided an opportunity to return to caucus," reads Ford's statement.
"A new Minister of Public and Business Service Delivery will be named in the coming days."
WATCH | Ontario Premier Doug Ford says his government will 're-evaluate' land swap:
Rasheed's resignation comes on the heels of another resignation, that of Housing Minister Steve Clark, who stepped down after weeks of pushback from political opponents over his involvement in the Greenbelt controversy. Weeks earlier, Clark's chief of staff Ryan Amato, who played a key role in choosing and opening up Greenbelt land for housing development, resigned as well.
Ontario's integrity commissioner investigated Clark's conduct and recommended he be reprimanded, saying he failed to properly oversee the process that led to protected Greenbelt lands being selected for housing development.
The province has said it undertook the land swaps, while adding protected land elsewhere, to lead to the construction of 50,000 homes in service of its goal of building 1.5 million new homes in the next decade.
Ford earlier this month announced a new review of the whole Greenbelt, including looking at the sites that were removed.
Opposition parties call for accountability
In a statement, Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles said Rasheed's resignation is just "scratching the surface" of the Ford government's "corruption crisis."
"This government is spiralling out of control. Mr. Ford needs to answer for that," said Stiles.
Interim leader for the Ontario Liberals John Fraser said in a statement that Ford's former press secretary Massoudi and his current director of housing Truesdell were both on the same trip "at the centre" of Rasheed's resignation.
"All roads lead to the Premier's office in this $8.3 billion backroom deal that benefited Doug Ford's friends and fundraisers," said Fraser.
Ontario Green Leader Mike Schreiner said in a statement that Ontarians have had "enough of broken promises and empty apologies."
"Distraction and denial won't deliver accountability to the people of Ontario," said Schreiner.
He called for all Greenbelt land to be "fully protected" and for a public inquiry into the Ford government's Greenbelt land swap.
"Ontarians have questions — it's time for the Premier to face the music and provide honest answers."
Experts say Greenbelt scandal may not be over
Zac Spicer, an associate professor at the School of Public Policy and Administration at York University, told CBC Toronto on Wednesday that the resignation clears the air "a little bit" for the government but the scandal may not be over.
"We don't know how many other cabinet ministers may have had interactions with different developers and people who are close to them," Spicer said.
Spicer said he thinks the government is probably eager to get back to its agenda and move away from the scandal.
"I think what the government wants to do is get back to talking about housing, building more housing and talking about the tools that are necessary to get that done. We'll have to see what happens if this is the end of it, " he said.
Matti Siemiatycki, a professor of geography and planning at the University of Toronto, said every time the government tries to move on from Greenbelt scandal, new information comes out that raises more questions about what exactly has happened here and the magnitude of decisions made about the Greenbelt.
"This scandal keeps ticking on. They've tried to turn the page. There's a new chief of staff, new minister, now another new minister. And yet there's still so many unanswered questions."
Siemiatycki said there needs to be a public airing of all the information that went into the Greenbelt decision and the land needs to be put back into the Greenbelt to ensure it is not touched in perpetuity.
"We really need to know much more about what happened here."