PelhamToday received the following reader letter regarding the ongoing Greenbelt land swap scandal:
I have no problem with Steve Clark resigning, just wonder why it took so long? In fact, this report appears to confirm that, as a present-day politician, he has conducted himself as honestly as any senior politician, both in opposition and in government, in recent years? Far more than can be said for so many current ‘ministers’ and a majority of politicians in both federal, provincial, regional, and even municipal governments of every political calling.
The hysterical reaction that this resignation has brought about, from every leading political mouthpiece, of every political party, is beyond belief! When has a single one of them actually implemented a single policy that truly supported the best interests of all those who elected them? Somewhere between nil and zero.
The most important item in the Integrity Commissioner’s report is quietly and apparently ignored, by everyone only consumed with a hatred for this Ford government, however deserved that may be, whilst they all continue to ignore the very real threat to our supposed democracy.
There was a guy called Ryan Amato, a civil servant, appointed as Clark’s new Chief of Staff when all this Greenbelt debacle began.
First off, who employed him? Did Clark have any say? And who actually appointed him as Chief of Staff to Clark? This in no way excuses Clark for taking no interest in monitoring what his Chief of Staff was doing once appointed, and in hindsight, makes Clark’s resignation inevitable.
But how he became integral to the sell-off of Greenbelt lands to developers, without any further apparent oversight, should be a major concern to all Ontario residents and taxpayers.
The Integrity Commissioner states in his report that Amato had meetings with multiple developers and actually set up a scheme to sell Greenbelt lands to them, before the Ford government was necessarily even aware of what was happening?
I guess an $8.3 billion boondoggle profit line, financed by the Ontario taxpayer, is only small change for the taxpayer to our overly empowered bureaucracy, and our increasingly weak and ineffectual elected politicians who no longer are prepared to even monitor the staff we, the residents, employ, and are supposed to work for our best interests. Good luck with that!
Wonder where Ryan Amato is now? Unemployed and homeless? I think I would doubt that very much!
Andrew Watts
Wainfleet
