Emails spark Greenbelt questions

Records show premier’s staffer attended private meeting with developer about land in Hamilton

- SHEILA WANG , NOOR JAVED

Newly released records show that within days of the private meeting, housing ministry staff were researching the land in Hamilton before ultimately selecting it for Greenbelt removal.

A member of Premier Doug Ford’s office attended a private meeting with a developer regarding his land that was later removed from the Greenbelt, reigniting questions about how directly involved the premier’s staff were in the ill-fated housing development plan.

Newly released records show that Carlo Oliviero, who was at the time the executive director of stakeholder relations for Ford, was invited to the meeting about Greenbelt lands in Hamilton. The invitation was forwarded by a well-known lobbyist and former executive assistant of the premier’s.

Within days of the meeting, internal emails show, housing ministry staff were actively researching the land in Hamilton before ultimately selecting it for Greenbelt removal.

The meeting is mentioned in a roughly 4,000-page trove of private emails, text messages and other internal government documents obtained by the Ontario NDP through freedom of information legislation. The party says the documents add to the growing evidence that suggests the Premier’s office was more deeply involved in the $8.28-billion Greenbelt scandal than it claims.

As the scandal unfolded, there have been questions about how involved the Premier’s office was in the Greenbelt development plan, and whether any of his staffers were involved in picking the parcels that developers wanted removed from the protected area.