Money In, More Money Out
Things That Matter, By Dennis Rizzo
Tony Miele. Ever hear of him? Unless you are a backroom wheeler-dealer in Doug Ford’s Ontario you likely have no idea who that guy is – or what he does.
According to The Trillium, “Miele has been the volunteer chair of the PC Ontario Fund, the fundraising arm of Premier Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservative party, since 2011. With him at the helm, the PCs have dominated other provincial parties in fundraising for over a decade, bankrolling slick, expensive commercials and professional election campaigns.”
According to Prof. Ian Stedman of the School of Public Policy and Administration at York University and Osgoode Hall Law School, quoted in the same article it’s not just raising money that is the issue, it’s using influence at the same time.
“Political parties are not captured by provincial conflict of interest laws, nor are they required to implement robust internal conflict policies,” said Stedman, who used to work in the Office of the Integrity Commissioner of Ontario. “They absolutely should have such internal policies, however. And those that do have them should face strong public pressure to be transparent about how those policies are administered.”
Transparency? When have we heard of government cancelling transparency? Maybe it’s because of the interactions and influencers Miele manages on behalf of Doug Ford and his minions.
“One source likened him to the role played by Joe Pesci in the movie Casino. “He was at the centre of attention, and everyone had to laugh at his jokes because they feared that if they fell out of favour with him that they would disappear” — in this case, from the PC Party.”
During Miele’s time atop the Ontario Realty Corporation, it became mired in a scandal. Journalists reported that certain developers made huge profits flipping land bought from the government, which led to criminal and civil allegations of bid rigging and fraud that dragged on for years. Miele slipped through the net on this.
Tony Miele has many sources of funding and support for Doug Ford’s PCs. All are well-known as it is said in the family businesses. Most are developers or developer agents.
In one instance, Carmen Nigro was head of Craft Kingsmen which received a $500 million expropriation settlement from the province for reneging on ‘air rights‘ it never owned. It never paid for those rights and never closed the deal, but was awarded millions of our money anyway.
Can you spell C-O-R-R-U-P-T-I-O-N? Doug can. And Miele is the enabler.
Miele is the shadow premier. He is the one calling the shots and dictating to Ford. The pandering to Ford’s old ‘associates’ continues. But this time it’s with our money. Billions in our money.
The leaks need to be stopped before the province’s assets end up in off-shore accounts. The scuttling of the FOI Act was to remove journalism’s access to information such as that above.
Your local PC MPPs are culpable in this pillaging of the provincial coffers by refusing to stand up to the backyard bully. They are complicit in the grift, corruption, and backroom deals that have stolen our health care, housing, and farmland.
The Siphoning Of Your Money For Doug’s Friends: Cut – Crisis – Steal
Greenbelt – the government was involved in a “backchannel” scheme to benefit developers with the removal of land from the Greenbelt. While the policy was reversed, reports suggested that developers with connections to the party stood to gain from the policy change. The list of developers involved is significant in that it is almost exclusively PC donors. The OPP and RCMP are still investigating, with no action to date. This leads to presumptions that recent changes in the Freedom of Information Act were rushed through to prevent further disclosure of dealings.
ETR Data Theft Scandal – Investigations have surrounded the alleged theft of data from over 60,000 users of the 407 Electronic Toll Route to benefit PC party nomination candidates.
OHIP Billing Changes – Ford cut or refused to spend billions from OHIP and hospital pass down funding. He failed to use monies from the federal government to assist with COVID-related issues. In true fashion, Ford now touts a few million being given to public hospitals while approving double or triple billing per procedure from his private clinic friends. This is enough to fund your local ER and hospital but has been redirected by Ford and his cronies.
Beer Store Payoff – $1 Billion in cancellation costs covered by our taxes because Ford needed to have beer in all stores and now his cronies can ship to more locations with less control over revenue.
Gravy Plane – $30 Million for a private jet that couldn’t land in most of the province but was perfect for the ego. Supposedly it’s sold but there is no paperwork available.
Ontario Science Centre – replace a $30million fix with a Billion dollar rebuild in Ontario Place.
Ontario Place – Fake bids, incompetent awardees, land destroyed, public property leased to a poor tenant; the scams in this project are too numerous to list. Either Doug Ford and his advisors are complete fools or there’s a lot of cash flowing into someone’s pockets and maybe both.
(Images Supplied)
Dennis Rizzo joins SUNonline/Orillia as a columnist writing on big issues affecting ordinary Orillians. He is an ex-pat Yank from New Jersey. Orillia, Ontario. Canada is his adopted home, but he has brought along a degree of puckishness and hubris. Dennis spent more than 30 years working in the field of disabilities, with some side trips to marketing and management. He presented and keynoted for many conferences and served on a President’s advisory committee. Dennis is the author of several journal articles and booklets in the field of disabilities and work and five non-fiction books, including “A Brief History of Orillia – Ontario’s Sunshine City.” He recently republished a novel set in 1776 and a mystery set in 1860. He also enjoys sitting in on music sessions around town when he can.
