Greenbelt's 'Mr. X' is a former Ontario mayor: sources
CTV
The mystery man known as 'Mr. X' in a scathing Integrity Commissioner report on how parcels of land came to be removed from Ontario’s protected Greenbelt is a former Ontario mayor, sources say.
The mystery man known as “Mr. X” in a scathing integrity commissioner report on how parcels of land came to be removed from Ontario’s protected Greenbelt is a former Clarington mayor who has boasted about his ability to get development done through provincial orders, sources say.
John Mutton was hired to help a landowner build on 86 acres of woodland and wetland in Clarington — and did so by wooing senior staffers in Ontario’s housing ministry with offers of Raptors tickets and golf games, even though he wasn’t a registered lobbyist, according to the provincial registry.
Integrity Commissioner J. David Wake’s report said that “Mr. X” stood to gain a $1 million payday if the land was removed from the greenbelt and turned cheap farmland into a lucrative building opportunity — something that could violate lobbyist rules that prohibit getting paid on the results of lobbying.
The whole incident is a sign that lobbying needs to be restrained, said current Clarington Mayor Adrian Foster in an interview, proposing a new municipal lobbyist registry on top of the provincial one.
“According to the Integrity Commissioner’s report, it doesn’t appear as if rules were followed. Municipalities typically don’t keep track of this. This makes it apparent we need one,” he said.
Mutton didn’t respond to emails and calls, and stayed inside his Bowmanville home Friday when CTV News Toronto visited.
His Oshawa-based company, Municipal Solutions, also didn’t respond to requests for comment. The company’s website says it employs an all-purpose “fixer” and has a division that grows new strains of cannabis and psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms.
