Ford family wedding guests received high-ranking positions and special Greenbelt development, report says

New information has revealed that attendees of Premier Doug Ford’s daughter’s wedding received many unusual civic privileges. 

A recent by Open Council — a third-party government observation agency — found that guests at Kayla Ford’s wedding and stag/doe party were not only allegedly encouraged to donate thousands of dollars but also received priority treatment before and after the event. 

Open Council’s data indicated that, since the 2022 wedding and its adjacent celebrations, Ford’s ‘personal family friends’ who were in attendance benefited from a disproportionate number of zoning privileges and high-power positions. 

According to the report, which uses information collected by the Ontario NDP, 18 Ministerial Zoning Orders (MZOs) were distributed to certain attendees at the Ford family celebrations. 

Information on the Ontario government’s website notes that MZOs are designed to dismiss any zoning by-laws that block prospective developments. 

Open Council underlined that 15 of these 18 zoning amendments related to Ontario’s Greenbelt.

As for those who received zoning amendments and positions of power within provincial mechanisms, the list is as follows: 

Open Council went on to infer several other individuals connected to MZOs and special appointments but did not have sufficient data on the details surrounding their involvement. 

As a byproduct of the alleged guest donations and the positions appointed before and after the Ford family wedding events, Ontario NDP leader Marit Stiles took the matter to the Integrity Commissioner of Ontario in 2023. 

However, after an internal review, it was established that alleged donations from the stag/doe party did not violate provincial policy. 

Further investigation by the Integrity Commissioner relating to the MZOs and corresponding position appointments also noted that “Ford did not participate in the selection of properties to be removed from the Greenbelt and was not briefed until immediately before Minister Clark presented the matter to cabinet” as stated by the commissioner’s report. 

Then, in 2023 of last year, according to data collected by Open Council, the Integrity Commissioner cleared Ford of any involvement in the alleged donations tied to internal discussions surrounding MZOs and the appointing of positions both past and future. 

Data collected by Open Council then quoted Ford after a questioning period exclaiming, “The Integrity Commissioner has cleared me 100%!”

INsauga.com reached out to the Office of the Premier for comment on the report, however, at the time of publication, no statement was supplied.

For more information on the report, visit Open Council’s official website.