Ford's former top staffer broke lobbying rules: integrity commissioner

Allison Jones · The Canadian Press

· Posted: May 16, 2025 11:59 AM EDT | Last Updated: 23 minutes ago

Ontario's integrity commissioner says a erstwhile apical staffer to Premier Doug Ford broke lobbying rules.

Amin Massoudi present runs Atlas Strategic Advisors, but antecedently served arsenic Ford's main caput until 2022.

Integrity Commissioner Cathryn Motherwell's bureau posted a announcement of non-compliance connected its website this week, saying Massoudi failed to comply with lobbying rules during a telephone telephone successful 2023.

The announcement says Massoudi failed to registry aft lobbying a nationalist bureau holder astir a lawsuit petition during a call.

The integrity commissioner says Massoudi knowingly placed the unidentified idiosyncratic successful a imaginable struggle of involvement due to the fact that Massoudi had offered the aforesaid nationalist bureau holder a summons to a Toronto Raptors hoops crippled the erstwhile day.

Massoudi says successful a connection that it relates to a telephone telephone with a mid-level staffer successful a minister's office, and erstwhile a taxable arose that Massoudi was not a registered lobbyist on, helium says helium instantly informed the unit subordinate and said a workfellow would travel up.

"At the time, I believed this to beryllium the due mode to grip the situation," Massoudi wrote.

"This acquisition has been an invaluable learning opportunity. I instrumentality compliance with each applicable authorities highly seriously. Over the past 2 years, I person taken factual steps to fortify interior compliance protocols and guarantee thing similar this happens again."