Ford's housing policy director latest official to resign amid Greenbelt scandal, premier says

Jae Truesdell, director of housing policy for the office of Ontario Premier Doug Ford, is the latest official to resign amid the Greenbelt scandal, according to the premier.

Ford confirmed the resignation at a news conference in Niagara Falls, Ont. on Thursday, when he announced a reversal of his decision to take land out of the Greenbelt for housing development.

"Jae gave his resignation to my chief of staff," Ford told reporters.

The resignation comes one day after Mississauga East-Cooksville MPP Kaleed Rasheed announced on X, formerly Twitter, that he was resigning from cabinet as the minister of public and business service delivery and from the Ontario Progressive Conservative caucus.

That announcement followed reporting by CTV and The Trillium that questioned the timeline about a trip to Las Vegas.

Truesdell and Rasheed went to Las Vegas with Amin Massoudi, then Ford's principal secretary, at the same time as developer Shakir Rehmatullah, according to a report by The Trillium.

Ford did not say when Truesdell's resignation was submitted, or when it takes effect.

Truesdell has made no public statements about his resignation.

Resignations follow reporting about Las Vegas trip

In an investigation into the decision to open parcels of Ontario's protected Greenbelt land to housing development, the province's integrity commissioner, J. David Wake, interviewed Rasheed about the Las Vegas trip.

Rasheed, Massoudi and Truesdell told the integrity commissioner they went to Las Vegas in December 2019. Rasheed and Massoudi "briefly encountered" Rehmatullah there, they said.

CTV News reported this week that Rasheed, Rehmatullah and Massoudi got massages on Feb. 1, 2020 at the same Las Vegas hotel spa. A spokesperson for Rasheed told CTV the trip was originally booked for December 2019 but got rescheduled and Rasheed "mistakenly" shared incorrect information with the integrity commissioner based on the original itinerary.

Rasheed said on X: "While incredibly difficult, this decision was made so as not to distract from the important work of the government."

He also said he will be "taking the steps required" to clear his name.

Rehmatullah's company owns land that was among the parcels removed from the Greenbelt in November 2022 for housing development. Rehmatullah is the founder and president of Markham, Ont.-based Flato Developments, which was behind three successful requests to remove land from the Greenbelt in Markham and Whitchurch-Stouffville last fall, according to the province's integrity commissioner.

Massoudi told the integrity commissioner he had only met Rehmatullah a handful of times, including at the wedding of Ford's daughter. Rasheed said he and Rehmatullah are close friends and Rasheed's wife worked for the developer.

Rehmatullah said he was in Las Vegas in December 2019 and late January to early February 2020 and recalled seeing Rasheed in a hotel lobby on one of the trips.

The resignations of Truesdell and Rasheed follow the resignations of Housing Minister Steve Clark, who stepped down after his involvement in the Greenbelt controversy came under severe criticism.

Weeks earlier, Ryan Amato, Clark's chief of staff, who played a key role in choosing and opening up Greenbelt land for housing development, resigned as well.