Doug Ford aide-turned Greenbelt lobbyist broke rules, ethics watchdog says

Ontario’s integrity commissioner has found that a lobbyist who used to work for Premier Doug Ford failed to comply with some rules while asking for a client’s land to be removed from the Greenbelt.

The integrity commissioner has laid out several instances in which he says Nico Fidani-Diker broke lobbying rules, largely in the course of lobbying work related to the protected Greenbelt lands.

Commissioner J. David Wake wrote that Fidani-Diker failed to register after lobbying to try to get land removed from the Greenbelt and knowingly placed two public office holders in a real or potential conflict of interest by offering them tickets to a Toronto Maple Leafs game.

Fidani-Diker says in a statement that he accepts full responsibility for Wake’s decisions and findings regarding his initial months as a registered lobbyist, while setting up his company three years ago.

Prior to starting his company, ONpoint Strategy Group, Fidani-Diker worked as Ford’s executive assistant and manager of stakeholder relations in Ford’s office and with the Progressive Conservative Party.

A 2023 integrity commissioner report into the now-reversed Greenbelt land removals found that the government’s process favoured certain developers, and the RCMP is also conducting a probe into the Greenbelt decisions.