The Honourable J. David Wake, Integrity Commissioner, today released his report into a complaint regarding Doug Ford, Premier and Member of Provincial Parliament for Etobicoke North. The report is in response to an affidavit submitted by Taras Natyshak, Member of Provincial Parliament for Essex, on November 2, 2021, in which he requested an opinion under section 30 of the Members’ Integrity Act, 1994.

Mr. Natyshak alleged in the affidavit that three members of provincial parliament, including Premier Ford, may each have contravened a different section of the Act with respect to decision-making relating to the Bradford Bypass, a proposed freeway that would connect Highway 400 to Highway 404 north of Toronto. The other members named in the request are Caroline Mulroney, Minister of Transportation and Member of Provincial Parliament for York–Simcoe and Stan Cho, Associate Minister of Transportation and Member of Provincial Parliament for Willowdale.

After assessing the matter in relation to Premier Ford, Commissioner Wake determined that there were insufficient grounds to conduct an inquiry. As required by the Act, the Commissioner has set out his reasons for this decision in the report, which can be found here.

Given the different statutory and evidentiary basis for Mr. Natyshak’s allegations about Minister Mulroney and Associate Minister Cho, Commissioner Wake will issue a second report at a later date.

The Commissioner is not available for interviews.

About the OIC

The Office has seven mandates under five pieces of legislation:

• Members’ Integrity, providing confidential conflict of interest advice to MPPs;
• Ministers’ Staff Ethical Conduct, providing conflict of interest advice and direction to public servants in ministers’ offices;
• Lobbyist Registration, operating Ontario’s lobbyist registry and conducting investigations into matters of potential non-compliance;
• Disclosure of Wrongdoing, receiving whistleblowing disclosures from current and former members of the Ontario Public Service;
• Public Sector Ethics, providing conflict of interest advice and direction to a broad range of public servants; and,
• Expenses Review:
  • Reviewing the travel, meal and hospitality expenses of Cabinet ministers, parliamentary assistants, Opposition leaders, and their staff; and,
  • Reviewing the travel, meal and hospitality expenses of selected agencies.