MPP vows to clear his name
Ex-minister says giving ethics watchdog wrong dates was ‘honest mistake’
MPP Kaleed Rasheed, who returned to Queen’s Park for the first time since he was forced from the Progressive Conservative caucus over the Greenbelt scandal, is vowing to clear his name.
Breaking his silence Wednesday, Rasheed said he made “an honest mistake” when he gave the integrity commissioner wrong information about a 2020 trip to Las Vegas with top aides to Premier Doug Ford and a Greenbelt developer.
“It was just a date difference of three weeks, I think,” he said.
In fact, there was a discrepancy of almost eight weeks.
Rasheed quit Sept. 20 as minister of public and business service delivery and left the Tory caucus after his office provided ethics watchdog J. David Wake with incorrect dates for the jaunt with developer Shakir Rehmatullah and Ford advisers Amin Massoudi and Jae Truesdell.
Rehmatullah attended the wedding of one of Ford’s daughters, and Wake believes he was “more likely than not” tipped by someone to the government’s plans to remove lands from the Greenbelt.
The integrity commissioner’s Aug. 30 report into the Greenbelt affair found Rasheed was “close friends” with the developer and claimed he was “shocked” to see him in Las Vegas around Dec. 7, 2019, when they allegedly bumped into each other in the Wynn hotel.
It later emerged the trip was postponed till Jan. 30, 2020 and that Rasheed, Massoudi and Rehmatullah had massages at the same time in the hotel spa on Feb 1.
The RCMP is now investigating the $8.28-billion Greenbelt land swap, which Ford cancelled one day after Rasheed was defenestrated.
“It was an honest mistake — it was something like four or five years ago — and I acknowledge that mistake on my part, but otherwise, the commissioner has everything. He has all the details,” said the affable two-term Mississauga East-Cooksville MPP.
While he was warmly greeted in the legislature by more than a dozen Tory MPPs, including cabinet ministers who hugged him, Rasheed, now sitting as an Independent, remains in political limbo.
That’s because Ford’s office has maintained he cannot return to the PC caucus until the integrity commissioner clears him of any wrongdoing.
But Wake has said he can’t further examine anything related to the Greenbelt while the RCMP has an ongoing criminal investigation.
Under the Members’ Integrity Act, which governs MPPs’ conduct, the commissioner “shall suspend” any “inquiry until the police investigation or charge has been finally disposed of, and shall report the suspension to the Speaker” of the legislative assembly.
Asked whether the Mounties have contacted him, Rasheed said, “No, nobody has reached out.”
Last week, six months after the launch of the RCMP probe, the Star reported that no key figures have yet to be interviewed by police.
“We are waiting for the (integrity) commissioner to give his final opinion, and as soon as he’s done I’m sure whatever the response is — which I’m hoping is going to be a positive one — hopefully … at that point the premier can make a decision,” said Rasheed.
“The premier and I talk from time to time, absolutely. He’s also, I think, waiting for the commissioner … and as soon as we get his opinion we’ll take the next step,” he said.
Rasheed also moved to allay concerns from the Tories he might step down as an MPP, which would open up a winnable seat for new Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie, a former three-term Mississauga mayor.
“My intention was never to leave. I want to clear my name … I’m really looking forward to going back to the Ontario PC caucus — that’s my family and I’m just hoping to get the name clear and then go back to the family,” he said.
Last August, Wake and then-auditor general Bonnie Lysyk released separate reports revealing certain developers with Tory ties were “favoured” in opening up 7,400 acres of the protected twomillion acre Greenbelt to housing development.
Along with Rasheed, then-municipal affairs and housing minister Steve Clark left cabinet last September. Truesdell and Clark’s chief of staff Ryan Amato have resigned from the government. Massoudi, Ford’s most-trusted aide, left after the June 2022 election.
All have denied doing anything wrong.