Mr. Clark had rebuffed calls from opposition MPPs to resign, but in a statement Monday said he was becoming a ‘distraction’ from work addressing the housing crisis
Ontario Premier Doug Ford shuffled his cabinet hours after Housing Minister Steve Clark resigned from his post Monday in the wake of weeks of outcry over the process to select Greenbelt lands for housing development and a finding from the province’s Integrity Commissioner that he violated ethics laws.to step down and was backed by Mr. Ford, said in a statement that he was becoming a “distraction” from work addressing the housing crisis and needed to “take accountability for what has transpired.
“We’ll never stop working on behalf of the people of Ontario to build homes, highways and public transit our growing communities need.” In his report released last week, Integrity Commissioner J. David Wake found that Mr. Clark failed to properly oversee the process, which was marked by “misinterpretation, unnecessary hastiness and deception.” He concluded that Mr. Clark violated both the conflict-of-interest and insider-information sections of the Members’ Integrity Act and recommended that the MPP be reprimanded by members of the legislature.
“Mr. Ford can rearrange the deck chairs all he likes but it’s not going to change the fact that Ontarians are fed up with a corrupt government rigging the system to help a select few of their insiders get even richer – at everyone else’s expense,” she said in a statement. Outside reviews of the Greenbelt affair continue. In addition to the potential criminal investigation, Mr. Wake said he would probe Mr. Amato’s conduct as a public servant after he completed the Clark review. Mr. Amato has not commented publicly, but in his resignation letter he said he has been unfairly depicted and is confident he acted appropriately.
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