Ford denies involvement in Greenbelt scandal, says RCMP has not contacted him amid investigation

Ontario Premier Doug Ford is adamant he had nothing to do with the Greenbelt scandal and said he hasn’t been contacted by the RCMP, which is now investigating the reversed housing development plan. “I had nothing to do with the changes in the Greenbelt, number one,” Ford said emphatically at an unrelated news conference on Tuesday. “Number two, the auditor general cleared us, cleared my office, and the integrity commissioner cleared me, and my office.” Ford’s comments follow the release of thousands of pages of emails and documents obtained by Environmental Defence through freedom of information requests about the Greenbelt development plans and urban boundary expansions. The advocacy group claims the internal government communications show Ontario political staff directed changes that would benefit certain developers. Ontario auditor general Bonnie Lysyk arrived at a similar conclusion following a value-for-money investigation in August, which looked into the government’s plan to rem