Ontario developer asks court to prevent, delay interview with auditor general in Greenbelt audit

A prominent Toronto-area developer is asking a court to block or delay a provincial watchdog frominterviewing him as part of its investigation into the Ontario government's decision to open formerly protected landfor housing development,CBC News has learned.

Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk has been looking into thegovernment's removalof more than 2,995 hectares of land from 15 different areas of southern Ontario'sGreenbelt so that 50,000 homes can be built. Other land will be added elsewhere. The Greenbelt was created in 2005 to permanently protect agricultural and environmentally sensitive lands from development and covers some 810,000 hectares area of farmland, forest and wetland from Niagara Falls to Peterborough.

As part of that process,Lysykissued a summons in late June to Silvio De Gasperis,president ofthe Vaughan, Ont.-based Tacc Group of companies, demanding he provide information related toproperties hiscompaniesownthat were removed from theGreenbelt, according to an application filed on behalf of De Gasperiswith theOntario Superior Court of Justice on June 29.

The summons demanded De Gasperissubmit to an "examination under oath" andbring any relevant"records, correspondence, notes and documents," according to the court filing.

The filing said the summons followed a letter sent in mid-June by Lysyk's office, which noted thatthe TaccGroup owned lands in the Duffins Rouge Agricultural Preservein Pickering, Ont., that areno longer subject to Greenbelt restrictions.

That letter outlined some of the possible topics of the interview, according to the court filing, including how the Ontario government identified Tacc Group's lands for removal from the Greenbelt, theOntario government'sexpectations for the development of land removed from the Greenbelt,andthe overall experience working with the government to remove the land from the Greenbelt.

In his application, De Gasperisasks the court to quash the summons or, alternatively, suspend it while the auditor general provides moreinformation about what she wants him to discuss.

The filing claims De Gasperis doesn't have the information the auditor general's office is seeking, that the auditor general doesn't have the jurisdiction to conduct such an audit, and that requesting him to appear is an abuse of process, among other things.

Lysyk's office agreed in January to conduct "certain audit work" related to Ontario's Greenbelt policy in response to a joint call from all three opposition parties for a "value-for-money" audit and an assessment into the financial and environmental effectsof the removal.However, she never defined the full scope of the audit publicly.

Ina phone call Monday, Lysyk saidshe can't comment on the details of the audit including its scope as it is still in process. She said shehopes to table a report before her 10-year termends onSept.3.

Scope of audit unclear, lawyer says

De Gasperis didn't respond to arequest for comment. However, a lawyer representing Taccsent a statement on Tuesday after the publication of this story. Itsaid, in part, that the scope and goal of the auditor general's inquiry are unclear.

"If it is a value for money audit, we cannot understand how it couldbeachieved at this stage,primarily, because the costs of development to the developers are unknown," said the statement sent by Neil Wilson, a partner withStevenson Whelton LLP.

Thevast majority of Tacc's land holdings that were removed from the Greenbelt were acquired more than 20 years ago, before theprotected area was created, the statement said.

"It is Tacc's understanding that the auditor general is considering clarifying to Tacc what information is being sought," it read.

The statement also said thatTacc isassisting the office ofOntario's integrity commissioner, J. David Wake, who isconducting an investigation of his own into the Greenbelt decision.

A spokesperson for Housing Minister Steve Clark said in a statement that the Ontario government is co-operating fully with the auditor general.

The De Gasperis family founded theTacc Group of companies, which includes Tacc Developments, Tacc Construction, Arista Homes, Opus Homes and Decast Ltd., among others, and are known for building homes in planned subdivisions across the Greater Toronto Area.

As CBC Toronto previously reported,corporate and property records show that companies controlled by Silvio and his brothers Carlo and Michael De Gasperis own landthat wasremoved from the Greenbelt in three municipalities Vaughan, Richmond Hill and Pickering including at least28 properties in the Duffins Rouge Agricultural Preserve.

The De Gasperisbrothershave beenprolific political contributors to Ontario political parties, with the majority of donations made since 2014 going to the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario and its politicians, Elections Ontario records show. Tacc companies have also hired lobbyists with tiesto the PC government, the lobbyist registry shows, although none of the records indicate they were hired to influence decisions on the Greenbelt.

AG can compel private citizens

Trevor Farrow, a professor at the OsgoodeHall Law School at York University in Toronto, said Ontario's Auditor General Actgives Lysyk the authority to compel private citizens to answer questions and provide information related to its audits.

"It's drafted fairly broadly," Farrow said. "The authority comes from the actand it flows from the authority of the auditor being able to ask questions in order to get actual information."

When that authority is challenged, however,theauditor general must prove it has the jurisdiction to conduct the audit in the first place and that the person they're seeking to speak to is within the scope of theaudit.

"If the audit is justified and this person is at the centre of the information that's needed," said Farrow."That's the kind of thing that the act contemplates when it's drafted to include people, including members of the public."

A date to hear the court challenge hasn't been set.