Developer donors to PCs benefit from zoning orders
Analysis finds $25,000 contributed collectively between 2018 and 2020
Developers connected to the Toronto sites fast-tracked by Premier Doug Ford’s government for condos made significant contributions to the Ontario PC Party in the past three years, a Star analysis has found. Names matching those of senior members at Dream, Kilmer Group and Tricon Residential collectively donated at least $25,770 to the Ontario PC Party between 2018 and 2020.
Last month, city officials scrambled after discovering Ford’s government had unexpectedly issued three ministerial zoning orders overruling the regular city planning process on sites in the West Don Lands, cutting out community consultation and scrapping promises of benefits to that local neighbourhood.
Local councillors have said the move treads on a city process and leaves residents sidelined.
The Star compared the list of senior team members found on each development group’s website with publicly available contribution records on Elections Ontario’s website. While names match, the Star could not definitively verify they are the same people. (One common name was left out of the analysis because it appeared to connect to multiple individuals with the same name.)
The Star sent the analysis to representatives of the three development groups for review. They did not refute, correct or clarify it.
The representatives are three executives who are leading the West Don Lands projects: Jason Lester, vice-chair of development for Dream; Wayne Carson, president of infrastructure developments for Kilmer; and Andrew Joyner, managing director for Tricon.
Those three names contributed a large portion of the funding to the PCs — $12,474 or nearly half the total donations analyzed by the Star.
Names matching senior members at the three firms also donated $5,669 to the Ontario Liberal Party and a single $200 donation to the Ontario NDP.
In an email, Adam Wilson, spokesperson for Minister of Municipal Affairs Steve Clark suggested it was not possible that the PC government’s issuing of MZOs — which provide a streamlined process benefitting builders — had anything to do with political donations because it was the previous government that initially signed the deal to build on those sites.
“Dream, Kilmer and Tricon (DKT) signed exclusive lease agreements with the previous Liberal government to develop the two sites subject to the recent MZOs — since the groups were chosen by the Liberal government, any attempt to link the MZOs with political connections to the PC Party is completely baseless, misleading and not supported by fact,” the statement said.
The response from the development group, sent by Lester on behalf of the others, also made reference to the previous government.
“Our city is in desperate need of affordable housing and these MZOs were issued to accelerate the delivery of almost 700 affordable housing units on land owned by the province of Ontario,” the emailed statement said.
“Increasing the supply of rental housing, and in particular affordable rental housing, is a shared goal of all three levels of government and DKT. Following a public RFP process led by a previous provincial government, DKT was selected as successful proponent to develop these sites, is proud to be part of the solution to the city’s housing needs, and looks forward to delivering affordable housing on a timely manner.”
Neither the province nor the developers answered the Star’s questions about whether the developers had asked for the MZOs or whether they helped draft them.
Businesses cannot legally donate to provincial political campaigns, but individuals can, regardless of their affiliations. Ford’s government has previously come under fire both for secret cash-for-access fundraising and a close relationship with developers during the 2018 election.
A video, as well as further reporting by the CBC, revealed Ford had privately promised developer donors during his 2018 campaign that he’d open up part of the protected Greenbelt for development.
During his time in office, he has made it easier for developers to appeal council decisions on their applications, made it easier to build during the pandemic, changed how developers pay fees to municipalities and overwritten development plans for the fastest-growing parts of Toronto, usurping years of study and consultation.