Heather Wright/The Independent

A Liberal MPP is asking the province’s Integrity Commissioner to investigate the ties between the Ford government and the owners of York1 Environmental Services.

It comes after the province reneged on a promise to force an Environmental Assessment of the controversial York1 Environmental project near Dresden.

Ted Hsu, the MPP for Kingston-Frontenac, has written a letter to Commissioner Cathryn Motherwell outlining what he calls Premier Doug Ford’s direct connections with donors who have a financial stake in the project.

He also names former Environment Minister Andrea Khanjin, current Environment Minister Todd McCarthy and Energy Minister Stephen Lecce in the complaint who introduced the Unleashing the Economy Act, which includes the exemption for York1’s project at the Dresden dump “and no comparable other landfills.”

Hsu says developers Andrew and Daniel Guizzetti with Brian Brunetti bought the Dresden landfill property in December 2022. They control York1 Environment Waste Solutions under of the umbrella of Willowdale Asset Management.

When their plans for the derilect dump became public, residents and politicians in both Lambton and Chatham-Kent called for a full Environmental Assessment of the project just one kilometre from the town.

Hsu says after Khanjin announced the full Environmental Assessment for the York1 project March 15, there were three fundraising events the Premier was expected to attend between March 22 and April 5. “In that time frame, senior executives from Guizzetti affiliated companies, over 50 individuals, donated exactly $945, consistent with fundraising ticketed practices,” Hsu writes sin his complaint.

He adds the Guizzetti brothers donated $200,000 to the Ontario PC party since 2018 – the year Ford was elected. “Numerous contributions clustered around key regulatory decisions affecting the landfill site,” Hsu writes.

A by-election was called April 3, and the PC Candidate, Steve Pinsonneault, won the seat in May, the MPP points out.

Less than a year later, the Ford government introduced Bill 5 which includes the cancellation of the full EA for the York1 site. “The decision directly benefits the Guizzetti brothers and their companies,” says Hsu.

“This pattern of donations, relationships and government actions combined with the reversal of an environmental safeguard that had been promised to the public raises serious concerns about whether undue influence, political fundraising or personal connection shaped the Premier’s and his Ministers’ decisions,” writes Hsu suggesting Ford and his ministers “used their office to further the private interests of political donors” and “provided preferential treatment or access to individual or entities based on political fundraising.”

This is not the first time questions have been raised about the connections between the government and York1 executives.

Chatham-Kent Councillor Rhonda Jubenville, believe that’s just a cover for the reversal. She said the owners of York1 are big contributors to the Ontario PCs and “something stinks.”

In an interview with The Independent in April, Pinsonneault denies that.

“The reality of it is probably every waste company out there has a connection to the Premier. Probably every company that does anything for the province has some sort of a connection to the Premier. So I think doesn’t matter what you’re talking about, or what issue it is, I think you could almost, in every case, find some connection (to) big business. That’s what they do. Big businesses will support two and three different political parties.”

Bill 5, meantime, has received second reading in the Ontario Legislature and will head to the Standing Committee on the Interior for discussion including public input on legislation.