Ontario ethics watchdog closes Greenbelt investigation into former cabinet minister
Ontario's integrity commissioner has closed an investigation requested into a former cabinet minister who resigned from the government and the Progressive Conservative caucus at the height of the Greenbelt scandal.
The integrity commissioner's office confirmed that a complaint from NDP Leader Marit Stiles, who wrote to request an investigation into Kaleed Rasheed in October 2023, had been closed.
Stiles had written to the integrity commissioner to rule on whether or not Rasheed had broken the Member's Integrity Act when he travelled to Las Vegas with a prominent developer and political staffer.
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Rasheed went on a 2020 trip to Las Vegas with Ontario Premier Doug Ford's then-principal secretary Amin Massoudi, Jae Truesdell — at the time in the private sector but who served as Ford's director of housing policy starting in January 2022 — and developer Shakir Rehmatullah.
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Rasheed, Massoudi and Truesdell initially told the integrity commissioner they went to Las Vegas in December 2019, where they 'briefly' encountered Rehmatullah.
They later said the trip occurred in 2020 after reports from The Trillium and CTV called Rasheed's timeline of his trip into question and a spokesperson said Rasheed had 'mistakenly' given the integrity commissioner incorrect dates.
After those revelations, Stiles wrote to the integrity commissioner and requested an investigation.
No investigation could take place, the integrity commissioner's office said, while a parallel RCMP investigation was ongoing that 'could overlap with the subject-matter of the request.'
The calling of an election then suspends all inquiries, which must be resubmitted after the next Ontario parliament is convened.
The integrity commissioner's office confirmed Stiles did not resubmit the complaint after the election. Rasheed, who maintained his innocence through the process, did not run in the most recent election.
— with files from The Canadian Press
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