Mississauga East-Cooksville MPP Kaleed Rasheed has resigned from cabinet and the Ontario Progressive Conservative caucus in the wake of an integrity commissioner probe into the province’s Greenbelt land swap.
Rasheed’s resignation comes after reporting from CTV and the Trillium questioned the timeline about a trip to Las Vegas.
In his investigation into the controversial decision to open portions of Ontario’s protected Greenbelt land to housing development, the province’s integrity commissioner interviewed Rasheed about the trip after the Trillium reported that Rasheed travelled there with Amin Massoudi, then Ford’s principal secretary, at the same time as developer Shakir Rehmatullah.
Rehmatullah’s company owns land that was among the parcels removed from the Greenbelt in November 2022 for housing development. Rehmatullah is the founder and president of Markham, Ont.-based Flato Developments, which was behind three successful requests to remove land from the Greenbelt in Markham and Whitchurch-Stouffville last fall, according to the province’s integrity commissioner.
Rasheed, Massoudi and Jae Truesdell — at the time in the private sector but who now serves as Ford’s director of housing policy — told the integrity commissioner they went to Las Vegas in December 2019. Rasheed and Massoudi “briefly encountered” Rehmatullah there, they said.
Shakir Rehmatullah is founder and president of Markham, Ont.-based Flato Developments. He was named as one of the developers who benefitted from the Ford government’s Greenbelt land swap. (Flato Developments/YouTube)
Massoudi told the integrity commissioner he had only met Rehmatullah a handful of times, including at the wedding of Ford’s daughter. Rasheed said he and Rehmatullah are close friends and Rasheed’s wife worked for the developer.
Rehmatullah said he was in Las Vegas in December 2019 and late January to early February 2020 and recalled seeing Rasheed in a hotel lobby on one of the trips.
MPP to ‘take the steps required’ to clear his name
CTV News reported this week that Rasheed, Rehmatullah and Massoudi got massages on Feb. 1, 2020 at the same Las Vegas hotel spa. A spokesperson for Rasheed told the outlet the trip was originally booked for December 2019 but got rescheduled and Rasheed “mistakenly” shared incorrect information with the integrity commissioner based on the original itinerary.
In a statement on X, formerly known as Twitter, Rasheed, who served as minister of public and business service delivery, said he will continue to serve his constituents.
“While incredibly difficult, this decision was made so as not to distract from the important work of the government,” he said in the statement, adding he will “take the steps required” to clear his name.
In a separate statement, Ontario Premier Doug Ford said himself and Rasheed have “agreed” to the resignation, effective immediately.
“If Mr. Rasheed can clear his name through the Office of the Integrity Commissioner, he will be provided an opportunity to return to caucus,” reads Ford’s statement.
“A new Minister of Public and Business Service Delivery will be named in the coming days.”
Ford acknowledges Greenbelt land swap process was flawed
Ontario Premier Doug Ford says his government will ‘re-evaluate’ a land swap of protected lands surrounding Toronto that two separate reviews said were flawed. However, the premier insisted development will move ahead if the sites in the area known as the Greenbelt ‘stand on their own merit.’
Rasheed’s resignation comes on the heels of another resignation, that of Housing Minister Steve Clark, who stepped down after weeks of pushback from political opponents over his involvement in the Greenbelt controversy. Weeks earlier, Clark’s chief of staff Ryan Amato, who played a key role in choosing and opening up Greenbelt land for housing development, resigned as well.
The province has said it undertook the land swaps, while adding protected land elsewhere, to lead to the construction of 50,000 homes in service of its goal of building 1.5 million new homes in the next decade.
In a statement, Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles said Rasheed’s resignation is just “scratching the surface” of the Ford government’s “corruption crisis.”
“This government is spiralling out of control. Mr. Ford needs to answer for that,” said Stiles.
Interim leader for the Ontario Liberals John Fraser said in a statement that Ford’s former press secretary Massoudi and his current director of housing Truesdell were both on the same trip “at the centre” of Rasheed’s resignation.
“All roads lead to the Premier’s office in this $8.3 billion backroom deal that benefited Doug Ford’s friends and fundraisers,” said Fraser.
Ontario Green Leader Mike Schreiner said in a statement that Ontarians have had “enough of broken promises and empty apologies.”
“Distraction and denial won’t deliver accountability to the people of Ontario,” said Schreiner.
He called for all Greenbelt land to be “fully protected” and for a public inquiry into the Ford government’s Greenbelt land swap.
“Ontarians have questions — it’s time for the Premier to face the music and provide honest answers.”
Experts say Greenbelt scandal may not be over
Zac Spicer, an associate professor at the School of Public Policy and Administration at York University, told CBC Toronto on Wednesday that the resignation clears the air “a little bit” for the government but the scandal may not be over.
“We don’t know how many other cabinet ministers may have had interactions with different developers and people who are close to them,” Spicer said.
Spicer said he thinks the government is probably eager to get back to its agenda and move away from the scandal.
“I think what the government wants to do is get back to talking about housing, building more housing and talking about the tools that are necessary to get that done. We’ll have to see what happens if this is the end of it, ” he said.
Matti Siemiatycki, a professor of geography and planning at the University of Toronto, said every time the government tries to move on from Greenbelt scandal, new information comes out that raises more questions about what exactly has happened here and the magnitude of decisions made about the Greenbelt.
“This scandal keeps ticking on. They’ve tried to turn the page. There’s a new chief of staff, new minister, now another new minister. And yet there’s still so many unanswered questions.”
Siemiatycki said there needs to be a public airing of all the information that went into the Greenbelt decision and the land needs to be put back into the Greenbelt to ensure it is not touched in perpetuity.
“We really need to know much more about what happened here.”
HOUSTON (AP) — Brian White scored in the second half to rally the Vancouver Whitecaps to a 1-1 draw with the Houston Dynamo on Wednesday night.
Houston (12-9-8) took a 1-0 lead into halftime after Ezequiel Ponce scored on a penalty kick in the seventh minute of stoppage time. Ponce’s third goal this season came after Amine Bassi drew a foul on Whitecaps midfielder Pedro Vite following a video review. It was Ponce’s sixth career appearance, all starts.
Vancouver (13-8-7) scored the equalizer in the 73rd minute when White, who entered in the 60th, used assists from Fafá Picault and Ryan Gauld to find the net for the 13th time this season. Picault’s assist was his fifth, matching his career high for a single season. Gauld’s assist gives him a career-best 13 on the season.
Yohei Takaoka, who had clean sheets in his last three starts, finished with one save in goal for the Whitecaps.
Steve Clark saved three shots for the Dynamo, who remain one point behind Vancouver in the Western Conference standings.
Houston, which was coming off a 4-1 victory over Real Salt Lake, has allowed just 33 goals this season.
Vancouver — 6-2-2 in its last 10 matches overall — leads the all-time series 10-9-6.
The Whitecaps remain on the road to play the Los Angeles Galaxy on Saturday. The Dynamo travel to play Austin FC on Saturday.
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — Tom Pearce and Nathan Saliba scored in the second half — the first goals of their careers — and CF Montreal rallied for a 2-2 draw with the New England Revolution on Wednesday night.
“In the second half, the guys came out a little more ambitious and above all, more connected,” Montreal head coach Laurent Courtois said. “It was a great second half of resilience and fighting spirit. Nathan and Sam were impressive.
“Impressive in covering the gaps and compensating for the teammates, and the individual defending – yes it’s true, it is a lot of weight on their shoulders, but that’s the job.”
New England (8-16-4) jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the 24th minute on Bobby Wood’s third goal of the season. Teenage defender Peyton Miller notched his first assist in his fourth career start and sixth appearance and Carles Gil picked up his ninth of the season. Peyton, at 16 years, 315 days old, is the eighth youngest player in league history to record his first assist.
The Revolution took a two-goal lead in the 35th minute and held it through halftime when 19-year-old Esmir Bajraktarevic took a pass from Gil and scored his third goal of the season and career in his first full season in the league. It was the 73rd regular-season assist in Gil’s career, tying him with Steve Ralston for the most in club history.
Montreal (7-12-10) pulled within a goal in the 54th minute when Pearce scored off a free kick after defender George Campbell drew a foul on New England’s Mark-Anthony Kaye. It was the first goal for Pearce in his third career start and fourth appearance.
“Playoffs are the goal. Maybe it wasn’t in the best form, but in the end, we are picking up a point,” Pearce said. “We came into this game confident, ready to play our own game. Everyone tries their best, whenever the players are called on, we are always ready, and we are always giving it our best.”
Montreal scored the equalizer in the 68th minute on the first career goal by Saliba, a 20-year-old midfielder. Saliba has made 34 starts and 48 appearances with Montreal in his two seasons in the league. Campbell snagged his second assist of the season and the third of his career.
“It’s an incredible feeling, it’s a goal I’ve been waiting for a long time. I’m extremely happy that I was able to score it and that it can help the team take this important point on the road,” Saliba said. “Pearce’s first goal gave us really good momentum and we kept up the pressure to go for a second goal. We got more solid defensively, and we came back ready after halftime, to push for these 3 points.”
Aljaz Ivacic finished with four saves in goal for the Revolution.
Jonathan Sirois stopped four shots for Montreal.
New England beat Montreal 5-0 on the road on Aug. 24.
New England leads the all-time series 16-13-4. Montreal improves to 5-8-2 on the road against the Revs.
The Revolution travel to take on Charlotte FC on Saturday. Montreal returns home to host the Chicago Fire on Saturday.
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Adolis García hit a two-run home run in the sixth inning, Cody Bradford pitched seven strong innings after the worst start of his career, and the Texas Rangers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 2-0 on Wednesday night.
The win kept the defending World Series-champion Rangers alive in the AL West race, trailing first-place Houston by 10 games with 10 to play.
García launched an inside sinker over the left-field wall off Toronto starter Bowden Francis (8-5) after Wyatt Langford singled.
“He swings hard, he swings a lot,” Francis said of García. “I guess the velo was dropping during that time.”
Bradford (6-3) allowed five hits and no walks while striking out six.
The seven shutout innings are the most in a game during his two-year career. He was knocked out of his previous start after allowing career highs in hits (nine), runs (eight) and homers (three) in 3 2/3 innings in a 14-4 loss at Arizona.
“Throughout the week, you’ve got to try and digest what happened, see where I can make adjustments, whether it was just game plan went wrong or just poor execution, or a little bit of both,” Bradford said. “Then you flush it.”
Bradford was perfect through four innings before Alejandro Kirk opened the fifth with a smash back to the mound that caromed off Bradford’s left foot and rolled into right field for a single. It extended Kirk’s hitting streak to a career-high 12 games.
Spencer Horwitz’s double to left-center put runners on second and third with no outs before Bradford retired the next three batters.
Blue Jays manager John Schneider credited Bradford’s “deceptive fastball.”
“When you’re throwing 89, 92, you’ve got to have pretty good deception with that at this level,” Schneider said. “Kept us off balance.”
Kirby Yates pitched a perfect ninth inning for his 31st save in 32 opportunities.
Francis, who took no-hitters into the ninth inning in two of his previous four starts, allowed a double to Marcus Semien, the Rangers’ first hitter of the game. He gave up five hits and one walk in six innings.
Francis has a 1.96 ERA in nine starts with 54 strikeouts and seven walks since being moved back into the starting rotation in late July.
“I don’t even want to get complacent, on cruise control,” Francis said. “Just keep attacking.”
TRAINER’S ROOM
Blue Jays: SS Bo Bichette was a late scratch with a right middle finger contusion suffered during infield practice. Schneider said the team will get back x-rays on Thursday. Bichette was activated Tuesday following a calf injury and played for the first time in two months, going 2 for 5 with one RBI at the plate. … INF Will Wagner (left knee inflammation) will have the knee scoped on Thursday. Schneider said Wagner should be ready to start spring training. Wagner, son of former major leaguer Billy Wagner, was acquired from Houston at the trade deadline.
UP NEXT
Rangers rookie RHP Kumar Rocker (0-0, 2.25 ERA) will make his home debut against Blue Jays RHP Kevin Gausman (12-11, 4.02) in the series finale. Rocker allowed one run in four innings at Seattle last Thursday in his major league debut.
