Former Ford Aide Broke Lobbying Rules Over Greenbelt Land Removal: Ontario Integrity Commissioner

A new housing development is constructed just outside the edge of the Duffins Rouge Agricultural Preserve, part of Ontario's Greenbelt, on May 15, 2023. Chris Young/The Canadian Press

A former aide to Ontario Premier Doug Ford failed to comply with lobbying rules while representing clients seeking to remove land from a provincially designated protected area, according to the province’s integrity commissioner.

Nico Fidani-Diker, Ford’s former executive assistant, violated lobbying rules in 2022 by failing to file a registration after advocating to a public office holder on behalf of a client seeking to remove land from the Greenbelt, a protected area in southern Ontario, according to a recent report by the province’s integrity commissioner, J. David Wake.

The report outlines several instances in which Fidani-Diker contravened Ontario’s Lobbyists Registration Act of 1998.

The document says that while representing the same client, Fidani-Diker knowingly put two public office holders in a “real or potential” conflict of interest by offering them Toronto Maple Leafs tickets.

“Mr. Fidani-Diker’s failure to register, failure to provide particulars and contraventions of the conflict of interest prohibition undermines the Act’s purpose of transparency and public confidence in the independence of public sector decision making,” wrote the integrity commissioner.

Fidani-Diker said in a statement that he accepts full responsibility for Wake’s decisions and findings regarding his initial months as a registered lobbyist, while setting up his company three years ago.

The Greenbelt area became the focus of attention after the Ford government in 2022 amended the Greenbelt Plan boundary and removed or redesignated 7,400 acres across 15 sites to build 50,000 homes.

A subsequent integrity commissioner probe, prompted by a complaint filed by the opposition NDP, concluded in an Aug. 30, 2023, report that then-Housing Minister Steve Clark had violated the Integrity Act by failing to oversee the process of selecting land to remove, which allowed private developers to further their business interests. A report by the province’s auditor general earlier that month had also found that the selection process for land removal was “flawed” and lacked consultation.

Ford later that year reversed plans to open the Greenbelt for development and promised not to make changes in the future.

The Greenbelt area, which stretches from the eastern end of the Oak Ridges Moraine in the east to the Niagara River in the west, was created in 2005 to protect farmland, forests, wetlands, watersheds, and communities.

Fidani-Diker’s Non-Compliance

In his latest non-compliance report, Ontario’s integrity commissioner says Fidani-Diker also breached lobbying rules in 2022 by failing to disclose details of a regulation change he sought for another client looking to remove land from the Greenbelt. The change would have required amendments to Ontario’s Greenbelt legislation, the commissioner notes.

That same year, Fidani-Diker put two public office holders in a conflict of interest in separate instances while lobbying them for clients. He had prior connections with both, whether political, professional, or personal, according to the report.

Then, in 2023, Fidani-Diker contravened the lobbying rules by failing to provide details on another regulatory change he was seeking for a client, who wanted to increase the allowable building height and density on a property.

The sanction imposed by the commissioner on Fidani-Diker for breaking the rules was to make his name public and disclose his non-compliance and any other information deemed necessary, Michelle Renaud, a spokeswoman for the commissioner’s office, told The Epoch Times.

In some cases, the commissioner may ban a person found to be in non-compliance from lobbying for up to two years, she said.

Before starting his consulting company, ONpoint Strategy Group, Fidani-Diker worked as manager of stakeholder relations in Ford’s office and with the Progressive Conservative Party.

The Canadian Press and Marnie Cathcart contributed to this report.