This article originally appeared on The Trillium, a Village Media website devoted exclusively to covering provincial politics at Queen’s Park.
The Progressive Conservative Party racked up a massive legal bill last year thanks to hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of payments to law firms that represented many of the Greenbelt scandal's key figures.
According to the PC Party's 2023 annual financial statement, it paid more than $600,000 to firms whose lawyers served as counsel to Premier Doug Ford, his chief of staff and his former housing policy director, former cabinet ministers Steve Clark and Kaleed Rasheed, and the previous housing minister's former top two staffers.
While the PC Party did not confirm before this story was published on Friday morning that its payments to the firms were specifically for the various current and former government officials' legal fees, The Trillium was told by two well-placed sources that at least some were.
Also, six of the law firms paid by the PC Party in 2023 that provided counsel to Ford government officials involved in the Greenbelt scandal weren't among the suppliers paid by the party the year before. They include Lax O’Sullivan Lisus Gottlieb LLP, Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP, Aird & Berlis LLP, Stockwoods LLP, Markson Law Professional Corporation, and Levitt Sheikh LLP.
Amounts referred to in this story are mostly from the PC Party's 2023 annual financial statement, which it filed to Elections Ontario this week. Ontario Integrity Commissioner J. David Wake listed lawyers who provided legal counsel to witnesses in his Greenbelt investigation in his Aug. 30, 2023 report. Wake's office and the province's auditor general conducted their parallel Greenbelt investigations over the first eight months of last year.
The PC Party paid $373,306.72 to Lax O’Sullivan Lisus Gottlieb last year. Two of its lawyers acted as counsel last year for Ryan Amato, the ex-housing minister's former chief of staff, and Patrick Sackville, Ford's chief of staff. The firm's lawyers also served as counsel for Tony Miele, who hasn't worked in the Ford government but is chair of the PC Party's fundraising arm.
Levitt Sheikh LLP provided Amato legal services outside of the integrity commissioner's investigation and was paid $16,950 by the PC Party last year.
Blake, Cassels & Graydon was paid $28,989,03 by the PC Party in 2023. One of its lawyers served as counsel for Jae Truesdell, the former housing policy director in the premier's office. The PC Party also owed Blake, Cassels & Graydon $28,989.03 at the end of 2023.
Clark, the former housing minister, had a lawyer from Stockwoods as his counsel. The PC Party paid the firm $31,368.80 last year.
Aird & Berlis was paid $23,928.88 by the PC Party last year. One of its lawyers was counsel for Kirstin Jensen, the former deputy chief of staff to Clark.
The PC Party paid $12,678 to Markson Law, which represented Rasheed, last year.
Rasheed, Amato, Truesdell and Jensen each left the Ford government last year.
Gardiner Roberts LLP, a law firm used by Ford and his family on multiple occasions, was paid $148,874.19 by the PC Party last year. It was also owed $2,664.55 by the PC Party at the end of 2023. Gavin Tighe, a senior partner with Gardiner Roberts, was the premier's counsel during the integrity commissioner's investigation. Gardiner Roberts was among the PC Party's service suppliers in 2022, albeit only at a cost of $37,974.24 that year.
The premier's office told the Toronto Star in October that government funds wouldn't be used to pay the legal fees of former staffers.
Major political parties in Ontario tend to be funded through two main revenue streams: donations, including those generated from fundraiser ticket sales, and Elections Ontario subsidies — which are taxpayer-funded. The PC Party reported $10,584,491 in revenue in 2023, which included $2,841,478.44 from donations and fundraising activities, and $5,142,516 in Elections Ontario subsidies.
The Trillium tried reaching all of the individuals and firms mentioned in this story for comment, but they all didn't respond before publication or declined to comment.
The Ford government reversed its Greenbelt removals late last year. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police has been investigating the Greenbelt changes since last October. No charges have been laid.
