Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles is asking the province’s integrity commissioner to investigate Northumberland-Peterborough South MPP David Piccini and two other Progressive Conservative members over their dealings with a lobbyist previously sanctioned for violating lobbying rules.
In a letter released Thursday, Stiles requested an investigation into Piccini, Laurie Scott and Steve Clark over their interactions with John Mutton, a former Clarington mayor who received a two-year lobbying ban in 2025 following his involvement in the Greenbelt controversy.
Stiles says Mutton lobbied Piccini in 2023, when he was environment minister, to expedite a species-at-risk permit for a Windsor property. The integrity commissioner previously found Mutton had placed Piccini in a potential conflict of interest. Piccini has said he took no action on the file.
The NDP leader also cited findings involving Scott, alleging Mutton sought ministerial zoning orders on behalf of developers while raising $26,600 for her riding association.
Scott said her office received a zoning request endorsed by the municipality and that it followed the established approval process.
Stiles says the previous investigations examined Mutton’s conduct as a lobbyist but did not determine whether the three MPPs violated the Members’ Integrity Act.
Piccini’s office was contacted for comment, but a response was not included in the report.
This is the second ethics complaint Stiles has raised involving Piccini. Last year, she asked the integrity commissioner to examine allegations surrounding the province’s Skills Development Fund while Piccini was labour minister.
Piccini was recently moved from the Labour Ministry to the Infrastructure portfolio in a cabinet shuffle.
(Richard Evans)
