More on Premier Ford's biggest problem - the Greenbelt scandal. Where are the Mounties?

By Sabrina Nanji – Queen’s Park Oberver. 

April 15th, 2025

BURLINGTON, ON

Little by little, the evidence works its way to the surface.

Still waiting for the RCMP report.

Integrity Commissioner J. David Wake

Later this week, Integrity Commissioner J. DAVID WAKE, is set to release a report that names the lobbyist for “undertaking to lobby when payment was contingent upon success” and “failing to file a registration” after he lobbied unnamed public office holders “with respect to requesting that a client’s lands be removed from the Greenbelt” as well as other clients’ requests for Minister’s Zoning Orders (MZOs).

John Mutton is named in the report

While lobbying to remove protected Greenbelt lands, Wake said Mutton knowingly put two public office holders in “a real or potential conflict of interest” by offering them gifts — a private round of golf and Raptors tickets.

After lobbying two public office holders for certain MZOs, Mutton put them in murky territory again — this time through political fundraising.

“For one of these public office holders, Mr. Mutton organized a political fundraiser raising more than $25,000 for the public office holder’s riding association approximately two months prior to the beginning of the 2022 provincial election,” Wake’s report reads. “In a lobbying communication to the second public office holder, Mr. Mutton noted he was responsible for bringing $5,000 to a particular political fundraiser and suggested some of these funds might benefit this public office holder, who was participating in that event.”

Win big, pay big: Mutton reportedly got paid hefty fees that were contingent on his lobbying successes. From 2021 to 2023, Wake said Mutton raked in at least $625,000 in contingency fees.

The breakdown: In late 2021 and early 2022, Mutton was paid $300,000 for MZO-related lobbying; in 2022, he got $225,000 for lobbying to remove a client’s lands from the Greenbelt; also in 2022, he was paid $100,000 for scoring an MZO for a client.

In 2023, Mutton had lined up a contingency fee of $250,000 for MZO-related lobbying, which “also included payment for additional work,” but that “was not yet payable at the time the investigation was completed,” Wake said.

Grits, too: Wake also dredged up Mutton’s Liberal government-era lobbying from 2016 and 2017, in which he failed to file a registration after lobbying three public office holders, on three different occasions, “with respect to the client’s goal of amending government policy and the making of legislation.”

Wake isn’t naming the public office holders or clients.

Benched: All of that amounts to a two-year ban on provincial lobbying for Mutton starting April 17 — one of the harshest penalties in Wake’s back pocket.

Former Clarington Mayor John Mutton with Premier Ford

For his part, Mutton maintains he “acted in compliance with lobbying regulations and requirements for my consulting work.” He also claims that “in many instances, I was solicited by public officials to share my expertise, not the other way around.”

That’s from a letter the former Clarington mayor and jiu-jitsu champion wrote to Wake earlier this year. Mutton disagreed with Wake’s findings but won’t seek reconsideration “in the interests of my personal well-being and that of my business and employees.” He says he’s “relieved” the nearly two-year investigation is complete, as it “has taken a toll on me personally and professionally.”

Some of the violations laid out in the non-compliance report were covered in Wake’s bombshell 2023 investigation that forced the Ford government to backtrack on its Greenbelt carve-up. But Wake had not interviewed Mutton at that point, so he was only referred to as “Mr. X.”

Mutton took issue with that, saying Wake already characterized him as a “principal character” and “the fall guy” in the land swap scandal, which was “completely unfair.”

Wake, who’s retiring, recently released another report regarding NICO FIDANI-DIKER, a former aide to Premier DOUG FORD who was also found breaking the rules by failing to disclose his attempts to get developer clients’ lands removed from the Greenbelt, hitting up government officials that were his friends, and even proffering hockey tickets. Fidani-Diker said such “oversights” were his responsibility and took place when he was just starting up his consulting firm.

Watchdog’s bark is worse than bite: Fidani-Diker was publicly named, but he’s still allowed to lobby at his old provincial stomping grounds. Oppo critics called it a slap on the wrist and said the ethics watchdog needs more teeth.

Ontario is supposed to review lobbying laws regularly, but years after the deadline, it still hasn’t happened.