FINALLY – RCMP Has Launched Criminal Investigation Into Ford Government’s Greenbelt Land Swaps

“We have zero tolerance for any wrongdoing and expect anyone involved in the decision-making about the Greenbelt lands to have followed the letter of the law.”   – from a statement by Ontario’s Ford Government following news of the RCMP’s investigation

Breaking News on Niagara At Large

Posted October 10^th, 2023

A Brief News Commentary by Doug Draper at Niagara At Large

It is about time.

Now being formally investigated by the RCMP. This image from Ontario’s Green Party which joined other political parties in the province in calling for a full probe of the Greenbelt land swap affair.

For several weeks now, since Ontario’s Auditor General’s Office and its Ombudsman released damning reports on the Ford government’s plans to parcel out land from the province’s precious Greenbelt to its developer friends, and even before the tabling of those reports – when it was clear to observant members of the public and news media that something foul was going on – the RCMP has confirmed that it is carrying out a criminal probe.

In the wake of those two scathing reports, of growing pressure from the public, of calls for accountability from Ontario opposition parties, and relentless digging by news reporters that uncovered ever more incriminating information,   Premier Doug Ford announced this past September 21^st, that his government was reversing what controversial land swaps the public learned of to date.

At the same time, at a news conference held in Niagara during a party gathering of his Conservatives, Ford offered a lame apology for the stinking affair, saying “mistakes” were made by a number of others in his government but him, it seems.

Niagara, Ontario area residents, this past Decemember, at one of several rallies held in the region to save Greenbelt lands for food growing for generations to come. file photo by Doug Draper

Ford was hoping he would believe that a couple of cabinet ministers and staff members screwed up in ways that were unknown to him. In other words, he was hoping that we would be dumb enough to believe that one would never find any fingerprints for this corrupt affair on the desk in his office.

Well, we are not as dumb as you Mr. Premier.

The brief RCMP statement released this October 10^th confirming that a criminal investigation is now underway, continues to read as follows –

“While we recognize that this investigation is of significant interest to Canadians, the RCMP has a duty to protect the integrity of the investigations that it carries out, in order to ensure that the process leads to a fair and proper outcome,” says the statement, adding that the federal police force will “not provide any further updates “at this time” while the investigation is in progression

Following the release of the RCMP’s statement, the Ford government issued one of its own.

“We have zero tolerance for any wrongdoing and expect anyone involved in the decision-making about the Greenbelt lands to have followed the letter of the law,” the statement from Ford and company said. “Out of respect for the police and their process, we will not be commenting further at this time.”

However, much parties for the investigators and those being investigated refuse to make any further public comments now, it is doubtful that others, including public interest groups and members of opposition parties in Ontario, will stand down.

In fact, responses to this latest news are already coming in and Niagara At Large will post more on that later.

Stay Tuned.

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