If the Doug Ford government has any credibility left (a big IF), it has taken yet another hit, thanks to a Star investigation. Uncovered is yet another example of the cronyism that should be anathema in any healthy democracy: the weighting of The Species at Risk Program Advisory Committee with Ford's friends in land development.
The story is primarily about a a particular developer who has been ousted from the committee, after The Star started asking questions.
The Ontario government says it’s removing a developer from an environmental advisory committee a month after appointing him.
The appointment of Sajjad Hussain to the province’s Species at Risk Program Advisory Committee was made on Aug. 31 — three months after he settled in court allegations that he and his business partner misappropriated millions of dollars in a Markham townhouse development.
The accusations were already detailed in court documents posted online at the time of Hussain’s appointment.
Apparently, Mr. Hussain and his partner, according to the receiver appointed by the courts to oversee repayment to creditors of their company, Sunrise Acquisitions, 'misappropriated' $10 million of repayment funds.
The receiver alleged in a Dec. 2022 court motion that the directors then cooked the books, maintaining an inaccurate ledger to conceal the true nature of transactions that “only served to enrich themselves and non-arm’s lengths parties to the detriment of the company and its creditors.”
That such an unsavoury person should be on the Species at Risk Committee should surprise no one. However, in my mind the more troubling revelation pertains to the composition of the committee, whose purpose, according to a spokesperson for the Simcoe County Greenbelt Coalition, is "to ensure that government policy is protecting biodiversity and ensuring endangered species of the province have advocates".
It is not clear why the Ford government selected Hussain, a developer, for this position. In a 2021 report, Ontario’s auditor general criticized the process for appointments to the species at risk advisory committee for being not transparent. At that time, a majority of members on the committee worked for associations or companies, half of which were registered lobbyists, the report says.
I'm sure that this is business as usual in the corrupted currents of Ford World. It is not, however, normal in my world and the world of the people I know. On days like this, 2026, the year of our next provincial election, seems far away indeed.
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