Ontario Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Steve Clark has resigned from cabinet after weeks of pushback from political opponents, First Nations leaders and residents following multiple investigations into his ministry’s handling of the Greenbelt land swaps.
His resignation comes after Ontario’s integrity commissioner investigated his conduct and recommended Clark be reprimanded, saying he failed to properly oversee the process that led to protected Greenbelt lands being selected for housing development.
In a letter posted Monday morning addressed to Ontario Premier Doug Ford, Clark said he tried to “fulfil the mandate of getting more homes built” for the people of Ontario.
“Although my initial thought was that I could stay in this role and establish a proper process so that these mistakes don’t happen again, I realize that my presence will only cause a further distraction from the important work that needs to be done and that I need to take accountability for what has transpired,” Clark wrote in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“As such, please accept my resignation as Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing. I will continue to serve my constituents as the MPP for Leeds-Grenville-Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes.”
Ontario’s housing minister has resigned, but critics say Greenbelt controversy far from over
CBC Toronto’s Ali Chiasson unpacks the reaction to Steve Clark’s resignation, with opposition parties calling for a deeper probe into how the Greenbelt land swaps came to be.
Ontario’s Greenbelt was initially created in 2005 to permanently protect agricultural and environmentally sensitive lands from falling victim to urban sprawl.
The Ford government removed about 2,995 hectares of land from the Greenbelt in December, while adding more land elsewhere, to build 50,000 homes. The Progressive Conservative government has said the land swaps were necessary to help them fulfil their promise of building 1.5 million homes in the next decade amid a housing crisis.
As someone who has given my life to serving the people through our democratic institutions, it is my responsibility to adhere to the principles of Ministerial accountability. I will continue to serve my constituents as the MPP for Leeds-Grenville-Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes <a href=”https://t.co/5VvUMB43gi”>pic.twitter.com/5VvUMB43gi</a>
Clark’s departure comes after his chief of staff, Ryan Amato, tendered his resignation. The province’s auditor general found the political staffer selected 14 of the 15 sites that were ultimately removed from the Greenbelt, and the majority were chosen after suggestions from developers who lobbied him personally.
“As Ontario grows, our government is on a mission to build at least 1.5 million homes,” Ford said in a post on X. He made no other mention of Clark’s resignation.
“After decades of inaction, we’re seeing real results: 2022 and 2021 had the most housing starts in 30 years. Our work won’t stop.”
Trust in Ontario government ‘sorely lacking’ over Greenbelt land swap, opposition leader says
Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles reacts to the resignation of Ontario Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Steve Clark from cabinet after weeks of pushback regarding multiple investigations into his ministry’s handling of the Greenbelt land swaps.
Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles said Clark “finally did the right thing” but added that there are still others who need to be held to account.
“We’ve been calling for this for weeks, and I’m glad to see that he’s finally stepped down,” Stiles told CBC Toronto. “That’s important. It’s time now, though, that the premier took some responsibility.”
Stiles is calling for the Ontario Legislature to be recalled to return the removed lands to the Greenbelt.
“This process was dirty,” Stiles said. “The only way they climb back from this is returning the land to the Greenbelt, and then we can talk about how we change governments.”
John Fraser, interim leader of the Ontario Liberals, and Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner echoed similar calls in public statements.
“What needs to happen next is the premier needs to open the books on the Greenbelt land swaps and waive cabinet privilege as it relates to this decision,” Fraser said.
“The premier keeps assuring us the buck stops with him. It’s time for him to step up and prove it,” Schreiner said.
Doug Ford ‘clearly implicated’ in Greenbelt controversy, Ontario opposition leader says
Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles discusses the allegations of unregistered lobbying and other potential lobbying violations related to the Greenbelt land swap by ‘Mr. X,’ who sources identified to CBC News as former Clarington, Ont., mayor John Mutton. ‘This deal is really very dirty,’ Stiles said on Saturday.
Much of the land removed from the Greenbelt is covered by treaties with the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation and the 1923 Williams Treaties, of which seven other First Nations are party, according to Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk’s report into the land swaps. Those treaties include harvesting rights in certain areas, such as rights to hunt, fish, trap and gather.
Chief Laurie Carr of the Hiawatha First Nation, one of the signatories to the Williams Treaties, was glad to see Clark resign but says the land needs to be returned to the Greenbelt.
“Then we can talk about a relationship and a partnership moving forward,” Carr said.
Resignation just the beginning, advocates say
Advocates who vocally opposed the Greenbelt land swaps reiterated sentiments shared by opposition parties on Monday.
Phil Pothen, Ontario program manager with advocacy group Environmental Defence, said Clark’s resignation is just the first step.
“While the minister’s resignation and the premier’s decision to accept it is entirely predictable as an attempt at damage control, there’s no substitute for actually reversing the Greenbelt removals themselves,” Pothen told CBC Toronto.
He said for the next housing minister to prove they have integrity, the government needs to reverse the swaps.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford, right, listens as Clark speaks during a media conference in Mississauga, Ont., on Aug. 11. Clark resigned his cabinet post on Monday following weeks of pressure from opposition parties and residents over his ministry’s handling of the Greenbelt land swaps. (Cole Burston/The Canadian Press)
In August, Stop Sprawl Durham organized a protest where hundreds demanded protection for the Duffins Rouge Agricultural Preserve, which was removed from the Greenbelt.
Abdullah Mir, Stop Sprawl’s co-chair, said the issue won’t go away until all Greenbelt lands are returned.
“The dominoes will keep falling and we’re not going to stop,” he said. “People are not forgetting about it. We will not forget about it.”
NEW YORK (AP) — Teen smoking hit an all-time low in the U.S. this year, part of a big drop in the youth use of tobacco overall, the government reported Thursday.
There was a 20% drop in the estimated number of middle and high school students who recently used at least one tobacco product, including cigarettes, electronic cigarettes, nicotine pouches and hookahs. The number went from 2.8 million last year to 2.25 million this year — the lowest since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s key survey began in 1999.
“Reaching a 25-year low for youth tobacco product use is an extraordinary milestone for public health,” said Deirdre Lawrence Kittner, director of CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health, in a statement. However, “our mission is far from complete.”
A previously reported drop in vaping largely explains the overall decline in tobacco use from 10% to about 8% of students, health officials said.
The youth e-cigarette rate fell to under 6% this year, down from 7.7% last year — the lowest at any point in the last decade. E-cigarettes are the most commonly used tobacco products among teens, followed by nicotine pouches.
Use of other products has been dropping, too.
Twenty-five years ago, nearly 30% of high school students smoked. This year, it was just 1.7%, down from the 1.9%. That one-year decline is so small it is not considered statistically significant, but marks the lowest since the survey began 25 years ago. The middle school rate also is at its lowest mark.
Recent use of hookahs also dropped, from 1.1% to 0.7%.
The results come from an annual CDC survey, which included nearly 30,000 middle and high school students at 283 schools. The response rate this year was about 33%.
Officials attribute the declines to a number of measures, ranging from price increases and public health education campaigns to age restrictions and more aggressive enforcement against retailers and manufacturers selling products to kids.
Among high school students, use of any tobacco product dropped to 10%, from nearly 13% and e-cigarette use dipped under 8%, from 10%. But there was no change reported for middle school students, who less commonly vape or smoke or use other products,
Current use of tobacco fell among girls and Hispanic students, but rose among American Indian or Alaska Native students. And current use of nicotine pouches increased among white kids.
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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
WASHINGTON (AP) — An Alabama man was arrested Thursday for his alleged role in the January hack of a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission social media account that led the price of bitcoin to spike, the Justice Department said.
Eric Council Jr., 25, of Athens, is accused of helping to break into the SEC’s account on X, formerly known as Twitter, allowing the hackers to prematurely announce the approval of long-awaited bitcoin exchange-traded funds.
The price of bitcoin briefly spiked more than $1,000 after the post claimed “The SEC grants approval for #Bitcoin ETFs for listing on all registered national securities exchanges.”
But soon after the initial post appeared, SEC Chairman Gary Gensler said on his personal account that the SEC’s account was compromised. “The SEC has not approved the listing and trading of spot bitcoin exchange-traded products,” Gensler wrote, calling the post unauthorized without providing further explanation.
Authorities say Council carried out what’s known as a “SIM swap,” using a fake ID to impersonate someone with access to the SEC’s X account and convince a cellphone store to give him a SIM card linked to the person’s phone. Council was able to take over the person’s cellphone number and get access codes to the SEC’s X account, which he shared with others who broke into the account and sent the post, the Justice Department says.
Prosecutors say after Council returned the iPhone he used for the SIM swap, his online searches included: “What are the signs that you are under investigation by law enforcement or the FBI even if you have not been contacted by them.”
An email seeking comment was sent Thursday to an attorney for Council, who is charged in Washington’s federal court with conspiracy to commit aggravated identity theft and access device fraud.
The price of bitcoin swung from about $46,730 to just below $48,000 after the unauthorized post hit on Jan. 9 and then dropped to around $45,200 after the SEC’s denial. The SEC officially approved the first exchange-traded funds that hold bitcoin the following day.
Google, Meta and TikTok have removed social media accounts belonging to an industrial plant in Russia’s Tatarstan region aimed at recruiting young foreign women to make drones for Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
Posts on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok were taken down following an investigation by The Associated Press published Oct. 10 that detailed working conditions in the drone factory in the Alabuga Special Economic Zone, which is under U.S. and British sanctions.
Videos and other posts on the social media platforms promised the young women, who are largely from Africa, a free plane ticket to Russia and a salary of more than $500 a month following their recruitment via the program called “Alabuga Start.”
But instead of a work-study program in areas like hospitality and catering, some of them said they learned only arriving in the Tatarstan region that they would be toiling in a factory to make weapons of war, assembling thousands of Iranian-designed attack drones to be launched into Ukraine.
In interviews with AP, some of the women who worked in the complex complained of long hours under constant surveillance, of broken promises about wages and areas of study, and of working with caustic chemicals that left their skin pockmarked and itching. AP did not identify them by name or nationality out of concern for their safety.
The tech companies also removed accounts for Alabuga Polytechnic, a vocational boarding school for Russians aged 16-18 and Central Asians aged 18-22 that bills its graduates as experts in drone production.
The accounts collectively had at least 158,344 followers while one page on TikTok had more than a million likes.
In a statement, YouTube said its parent company Google is committed to sanctions and trade compliance and “after review and consistent with our policies, we terminated channels associated with Alabuga Special Economic Zone.”
Meta said it removed accounts on Facebook and Instagram that “violate our policies.” The company said it was committed to complying with sanctions laws and said it recognized that human exploitation is a serious problem which required a multifaceted approach, including at Meta.
It said it had teams dedicated to anti-trafficking efforts and aimed to remove those seeking to abuse its platforms.
TikTok said it removed videos and accounts which violated its community guidelines, which state it does not allow content that is used for the recruitment of victims, coordination of their transport, and their exploitation using force, fraud, coercion, or deception.
The women aged 18-22 were recruited to fill an urgent labor shortage in wartime Russia. They are from places like Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya, South Sudan, Sierra Leone and Nigeria, as well as the South Asian country of Sri Lanka. The drive also is expanding to elsewhere in Asia as well as Latin America.
Accounts affiliated to Alabuga with tens of thousands of followers are still accessible on Telegram, which did not reply to a request for comment. The plant’s management also did not respond to AP.
The Alabuga Start recruiting drive used a robust social media campaign of slickly edited videos with upbeat music that show African women smiling while cleaning floors, wearing hard hats while directing cranes, and donning protective equipment to apply paint or chemicals.
Videos also showed them enjoying Tatarstan’s cultural sites or playing sports. None of the videos made it clear the women would be working in a drone manufacturing complex.
Online, Alabuga promoted visits to the industrial area by foreign dignitaries, including some from Brazil, Sri Lanka and Burkina Faso.
In a since-deleted Instagram post, a Turkish diplomat who visited the plant had compared Alabuga Polytechnic to colleges in Turkey and pronounced it “much more developed and high-tech.”
According to Russian investigative outlets Protokol and Razvorot, some pupils at Alabuga Polytechnic are as young as 15 and have complained of poor working conditions.
Videos previously on the platforms showed the vocational school students in team-building exercises such as “military-patriotic” paintball matches and recreating historic Soviet battles while wearing camouflage.
Last month, Alabuga Start said on Telegram its “audience has grown significantly!”
That could be due to its hiring of influencers, who promoted the site on TikTok and Instagram as an easy way for young women to make money after leaving school.
TikTok removed two videos promoting Alabuga after publication of the AP investigation.
Experts told AP that about 90% of the women recruited via the Alabuga Start program work in drone manufacturing.
