Ontario’s housing minister is calling on the former political staffer at the centre of the Greenbelt scandal to hand over any emails from his personal account that may relate to the province’s controversial and since-reversed decision to open up the protected area to development.
Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Paul Calandra spoke to reporters at Queen’s Park on Monday after the Star published an article about how Ryan Amato, the former chief of staff to Calandra’s predecessor, Steve Clark, had refused to provide any Greenbelt-related emails he may have sent or received from his personal Gmail account. Amato’s refusal was in response to a freedom of information request from the Star.
Amato did not respond to questions for this story. He resigned from the government in August 2023 in the wake of a scathing Auditor General’s report, which denounced the use of personal email by political staff in the housing ministry involved in Greenbelt decision-making.
On Monday, Calandra said his ministry will co-operate with all authorities — including the RCMP, which is still investigating the ill-fated scheme — to provide whatever information it can.
“If there’s anything outstanding that the ministry needs to provide, we will provide it,” he said.
Amato’s refusal to share his personal emails came to light in submissions by the housing ministry to the Information and Privacy Commissioner (IPC) as part of an appeal by the Star, which filed an FOI in August 2023 for Amato’s personal emails related to the Greenbelt.
The province initially only provided a handful of emails Amato had forwarded from his personal account to his government account. The Star is arguing that additional records exist, something Amato’s lawyers have described as “merely speculation.”
Lawyers for the province said they have formally asked Amato to hand over any Greenbelt-related emails he may have sent or received from his personal account and that Amato “twice refused.” They told the IPC they have no “legal mechanism” to force their former employee to co-operate.
Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles also asked about the Star’s story in Question Period on Monday, directing a question to Premier Doug Ford about why political staff used personal email to communicate with Greenbelt lobbyists in the first place.
Responding in Ford’s place, PC MP Will Bouma said the Ford government has “zero tolerance” for any wrongdoing and the province will “pursue every avenue to request that any relevant records be turned over.”
