Ontario’s Auditor General, Bonnie Lysyk, did not mince words when she delivered her report outlining the Greenbelt land removal initiated by Doug Ford’s provincial government. Her main message – developers had a huge influence over the process and rewarding of Greenbelt land for development.

And almost none of the process actually had any real oversight.

Lysyk had a list of recommendations for the Ford government including a better clarification of roles among political staffers who were assigned Greenbelt development duties, limiting the use of public service staff through non-disclosure agreements, emphasizing need for strengthening oversight, making sure staff is not using personal email for government business, a more meaningful, more transparent consultation process, and a more robust cabinet transparency mechanism while engaged in the process.

Despite the recognition that this process was tilted towards the benefit of developers who have relationships with Premier Ford and his government, the Auditor General does not have the power to initiate any criminal charges. In her press conference this morning, Lysyk did mention that she had meetings with the Ontario Provincial Police, but the details of those meetings remain unknown.

When asked about whether or not it is normal or acceptable for Housing Minister Steve Clark’s chief of staff Ryan Amato to receive packages from developers who were eventually granted the rights to develop on the Greenbelt, Lysyk reiterated the role of Ontario’s Integrity Commissioner, as well as a need for a review of what passes for proper communications between government officials and third-party lobbyists. Amato oversaw at least 8.3 billion dollars worth of winning bids.

Lysysk, when asked about recent comments from the premier’s office that questioned the scope of her report, said those types of comments are a diversion to distract the public from what an auditor is tasked to do – audit a process and make recommendations.

The overall report is quite damning, but experts say it doesn’t really have any teeth. Despite a process that included the complete removal of environmental standards after one developer met none of them, and a clear leg-up in the initial stage of opening development, this report alone will not result in any penalties or reversals.

However, a possible subsequent Integrity Commissioner investigation, and even a possible OPP investigation, could at the very least delay Greenbelt development for the foreseeable future.