<html><body style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><div dir="auto" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div><div class="ApplePlainTextBody"><div class="MuiGrid-root-421 MuiGrid-item-423 MuiGrid-grid-xs-12-467 MuiGrid-grid-md-8-491" style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; flex-grow: 0; max-width: 66.666664%; flex-basis: 66.666664%; caret-color: rgb(22, 23, 37); color: rgb(22, 23, 37);"><div class="jss37 jss45 jss46" style="margin-bottom: 68px; padding: 0px 40px;"><div class="jss57" style="font-family: SuisseIntl, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin-left: -20px; margin-right: -20px; margin-bottom: 68px;"><div class="jss627" style="display: flex; padding: 0px 24px; flex-direction: row; justify-content: center;"><div class="jss628 jss629 jss59" style="width: 562.65625px; border-radius: 8px; background-color: rgb(30, 34, 46); max-width: 835px !important;"><div class="jss36" style="padding: 0px 40px;"><div data-banner-position="1" data-banner-position-paragraph="2" class="jss632 inpageBanner" data-gtm-vis-first-on-screen62544245_115="9171" style="margin: 40px 0px; display: grid; row-gap: 40px; column-gap: 40px; grid-template-columns: 5fr 5fr;"><div></div></div></div></div></div></div><p class="MuiTypography-root-528 jss39 MuiTypography-body1-530" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 1.25rem; font-family: "Source Serif Pro", Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, sans-serif; line-height: 2.125rem; letter-spacing: 0px; padding-bottom: 44px;">Once the report drops, we’ll have another round of head-scratching and finger-wagging. Perhaps some more resignations, too. But then what?</p><p class="MuiTypography-root-528 jss39 MuiTypography-body1-530" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 1.25rem; font-family: "Source Serif Pro", Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, sans-serif; line-height: 2.125rem; letter-spacing: 0px; padding-bottom: 44px;">NDP leader Marit Stiles, whose party asked the commissioner to look into the issue, was quick to remind Ontarians that, just over a decade ago, a potentially similar report into the gas-plant scandal under the Liberal government produced a police investigation and <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/david-livingston-liberal-aid-jail-gas-plants-dalton-mcguinty-1.4613731" aria-label="jail time opens in a new window" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer" style="color: rgb(34, 91, 228);">jail time</a> for a top staffer who deleted emails. The implication is clear.</p><p class="MuiTypography-root-528 jss39 MuiTypography-body1-530" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 1.25rem; font-family: "Source Serif Pro", Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, sans-serif; line-height: 2.125rem; letter-spacing: 0px; padding-bottom: 44px;">As the report prepares to make its way to the public, the <em style="font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 2.125rem; letter-spacing: 0px;">Toronto Star</em><a href="https://www.thestar.com/politics/these-documents-tell-a-different-story-newly-released-records-reignite-questions-about-premier-ford-s/article_cf10aa78-0c9b-11ef-bfb3-6376f2f37604.html" aria-label="reported last week opens in a new window" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer" style="color: rgb(34, 91, 228);">reported last week</a> that a member of the premier’s office held a private meeting with a developer who, it just so happens, subsequently had his land swapped from the protected Greenbelt. As Sheila Wang and Noor Javed write, this raises questions “about how directly involved the premier’s staff were in the ill-fated housing development plan.”</p><p class="MuiTypography-root-528 jss39 MuiTypography-body1-530" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 1.25rem; font-family: "Source Serif Pro", Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, sans-serif; line-height: 2.125rem; letter-spacing: 0px; padding-bottom: 44px;">Now <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/10530081/ontario-government-chief-staff-omitts-text-messages/" aria-label="Global News reports opens in a new window" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer" style="color: rgb(34, 91, 228);">Global News reports</a> that Ford’s chief of staff, Patrick Sackville, “appears to have not disclosed text messages to privacy officials in a freedom of information request.” This is the same staffer who used his private email account for government work.</p><p class="MuiTypography-root-528 jss39 MuiTypography-body1-530" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 1.25rem; font-family: "Source Serif Pro", Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, sans-serif; line-height: 2.125rem; letter-spacing: 0px; padding-bottom: 44px;">This is serious stuff, and we aren’t done learning the extent to which it’s scandalous and, one would think, disqualifying for a government to maintain the public trust it requires to govern. But as much as it’s good and right for us to learn more, haven’t we already reached the important conclusions?</p><p class="MuiTypography-root-528 jss39 MuiTypography-body1-530" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 1.25rem; font-family: "Source Serif Pro", Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, sans-serif; line-height: 2.125rem; letter-spacing: 0px; padding-bottom: 44px;">As I’ve <a href="https://www.tvo.org/article/the-greenbelt-report-proves-it-the-ford-government-is-corrupt" rel="noreferrer" style="color: rgb(34, 91, 228);">written before</a>, the Greenbelt scandal is <em style="font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 2.125rem; letter-spacing: 0px;">further </em>proof positive that the Ford government is corrupt and unfit to govern. And as I’ve also written before, <a href="https://www.davidmoscrop.com/p/doug-ford-must-resign-2023-edition" aria-label="Ford should resign opens in a new window" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer" style="color: rgb(34, 91, 228);">Ford should resign</a>. Anyone paying the least bit of attention to the details of just how atrocious the land-swap deal is and acting in good faith ought to reach the same conclusion.</p><p class="MuiTypography-root-528 jss39 MuiTypography-body1-530" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 1.25rem; font-family: "Source Serif Pro", Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, sans-serif; line-height: 2.125rem; letter-spacing: 0px; padding-bottom: 44px;">The Greenbelt issue always looked to be, at the very least, a little off — more likely a lot off. Then came <a href="https://www.auditor.on.ca/en/content/specialreports/specialreports/Greenbelt_en.pdf" aria-label="the auditor general’s report opens in a new window" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer" style="color: rgb(34, 91, 228);">the auditor general’s report</a> that found the plan was run improperly and led to preferential treatment for “certain prominent developers.” A little less than a month later, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/steve-clark-resigns-greenbelt-1.6956402" aria-label="Housing Minister Steve Clark resigned opens in a new window" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer" style="color: rgb(34, 91, 228);">Housing Minister Steve Clark resigned</a>, but not before his chief of staff had <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-housing-amato-resigns-1.6944225" aria-label="bowed out opens in a new window" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer" style="color: rgb(34, 91, 228);">bowed out</a>.</p><p class="MuiTypography-root-528 jss39 MuiTypography-body1-530" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 1.25rem; font-family: "Source Serif Pro", Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, sans-serif; line-height: 2.125rem; letter-spacing: 0px; padding-bottom: 44px;">In case anyone had forgotten, the RCMP is investigating the Greenbelt scandal, too. In <a href="https://www.thestar.com/politics/provincial/bonnie-crombie-asks-rcmp-for-update-on-greenbelt-investigation-of-ford-government/article_9cb00b46-190c-11ef-9b0b-2761429c01d1.html" aria-label="a recent letter opens in a new window" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer" style="color: rgb(34, 91, 228);">a recent letter</a> to the force’s commissioner and assistant commissioner, Liberal leader Bonnie Crombie referred to the latest news and asked for “an update on the progress of your investigation, in light of these most recent revelations.”</p><p class="MuiTypography-root-528 jss39 MuiTypography-body1-530" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 1.25rem; font-family: "Source Serif Pro", Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, sans-serif; line-height: 2.125rem; letter-spacing: 0px; padding-bottom: 44px;">Crombie’s letter was politicking at its finest, but she’s not wrong to wonder about the status of the investigation — even though the RCMP is, as a rule, likely to say that the investigation is ongoing and that it can’t get into specifics on the fly. Nonetheless, the results of that work will shape Ontario politics, and in due course we’ll be more than a little interested to see what the police come up with. But, again, we already know what needs to happen.</p><p class="MuiTypography-root-528 jss39 MuiTypography-body1-530" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 1.25rem; font-family: "Source Serif Pro", Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, sans-serif; line-height: 2.125rem; letter-spacing: 0px; padding-bottom: 44px;">The broader takeaway from all this new information is the same as it was from the initial Greenbelt information. The more we learn about the affair, the more we can be sure that those of us who called the Ford government crooked and unfit for purpose from the start were right. New information is good and necessary, but it simply supports the conclusion that Ford and his lot are unfit to govern and ought to go.</p><p class="MuiTypography-root-528 jss39 MuiTypography-body1-530" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 1.25rem; font-family: "Source Serif Pro", Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, sans-serif; line-height: 2.125rem; letter-spacing: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px;">The details of this mess continue to matter, and Ontarians deserve accountability: politician by politician, staffer by staffer. But, ultimately, it’s Ford who bears responsibility for this mess, and it’s Ford and his government that ought to pay the political price. The Greenbelt scandal won’t be truly over until the province has a new government and, one hopes, at least for a time, a break from the weekly nonsense and semi-regular jaw-dropping scandals.</p></div></div><div class="MuiGrid-root-421 jss28 MuiGrid-item-423 MuiGrid-grid-md-2-485" style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; flex-grow: 0; max-width: 16.666668%; flex-basis: 16.666668%; caret-color: rgb(22, 23, 37); color: rgb(22, 23, 37);"></div><div class="MuiGrid-root-421 jss28 MuiGrid-item-423 MuiGrid-grid-md-2-485" style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; flex-grow: 0; max-width: 16.666668%; flex-basis: 16.666668%; caret-color: rgb(22, 23, 37); color: rgb(22, 23, 37);"></div><div class="MuiGrid-root-421 jss34 MuiGrid-item-423 MuiGrid-grid-xs-12-467 MuiGrid-grid-md-8-491" style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; flex-grow: 0; max-width: 66.666664%; flex-basis: 66.666664%; padding: 0px 40px; caret-color: rgb(22, 23, 37); color: rgb(22, 23, 37);"><div class="MuiPaper-root-393 MuiCard-root-585 jss562 jss566 jss31 MuiPaper-elevation0-396 MuiPaper-rounded-394" style="transition: box-shadow 300ms cubic-bezier(0.4, 0, 0.2, 1) 0ms; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-radius: 4px; box-shadow: none; overflow: visible; display: flex; position: relative; max-width: 855px; flex-direction: row; align-items: flex-start;"><a class="MuiTypography-root-528 MuiLink-root-587 MuiLink-underlineHover-589 jss586 MuiTypography-overline-541 MuiTypography-colorPrimary-551" href="https://www.tvo.org/author/david-moscrop" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 0.875rem; font-family: SuisseIntl, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: 600; line-height: 1.125rem; letter-spacing: 0px; text-transform: uppercase; color: rgb(34, 91, 228); text-decoration: none;"><div class="jss584" style="width: 50px; border: 2px solid rgb(232, 211, 211); height: 51px; margin: 5px 8px 8px 6px; padding: 2px; z-index: 999; position: absolute; box-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px 0px 0px 2px, rgb(231, 19, 26) 0px 0px 0px 4px; border-radius: 50%;"></div></a></div></div></div></div></div></div></body></html>