EDITOR’S NOTE: This article originally appeared on The Trillium, a Village Media website devoted exclusively to covering provincial politics at Queen’s Park.
The development consultant known as “Mr. X” is claiming that Ontario’s current labour minister gave him an early heads-up that the government would open up parts of the Greenbelt for development.
A spokesperson for the minister denied the claim, calling it “categorically untrue and patently false.”
David Piccini was minister of the environment when, in November 2022, then-housing minister Steve Clark announced that the province would remove the Greenbelt’s environmental protections from 15 parcels of land to allow them to be developed for housing. The following September, Premier Doug Ford apologized and reversed course after media and watchdog reports found well-connected developers influenced the decisions improperly — and stood to gain an estimated $8.3 billion from the land-use changes.
Development consultant John Mutton, a former mayor of Clarington, has embraced “Mr. X” as a nickname since the province’s former integrity commissioner referred to him that way in an August 2023 report on the Greenbelt scandal.
As commissioner, J. David Wake referred to Mutton by the sobriquet because he was legally barred from identifying lobbyists under investigation, as the ex-mayor was at the time. In April 2025, the commissioner's office slapped Mutton with a two-year lobbying ban, the harshest penalty available, after finding that he breached the provincial lobbying law multiple times over several years.
A key question in the integrity commissioner’s Greenbelt investigation was how various well-connected landowners and developers knew that the government was considering opening up parts of the Greenbelt before the news was made public — and how they ensured that their land was among the selected parcels.
Last week, exactly two years since the RCMP opened its criminal investigation into the Greenbelt affair, Mutton released the first episode of a podcast series he’s dubbed "The Mr. X Files."
In it, Mutton said he “found out from David Piccini that they're going to be looking at the Greenbelt” at a fundraiser before the June 2022 provincial election.
Mutton also made the same claim in an interview with the integrity commissioner nearly two years ago, when he was being investigated for unregistered lobbying.
That interview has not previously been made public. A transcript given to The Trillium shows it took place on Dec. 12, 2023, after the commissioner’s wider Greenbelt investigation, so Mutton’s testimony was not included in the public report on its findings.
Mutton was represented by legal counsel and under affirmation during the interview. A person who lies under oath or affirmation can be charged with perjury under the Criminal Code.
When the Ford government took lands out of the Greenbelt in late 2022, Mutton had been working as a development consultant for the company that owns a property in Clarington that was included in the short-lived removals.
Mutton later told the commissioner in his interview that he’d heard “a rumour” months before the province announced the Greenbelt removals that changes would be coming.
“I heard it from David Piccini at one of his fundraisers,” he said, according to a transcript of the deposition, and added that it occurred before the June 2022 election.
Asked if he recalled what Piccini said, Mutton replied, “Yes, he says, ‘Hey, I heard rumours that next term there could be an opening of the Greenbelt.’"
Asked if the minister said anything else, Mutton replied that Piccini had said, “Don't tell anyone."
In that interview, Mutton couldn’t remember whether the fundraiser was held in the fall or spring, but said he believed it was in a barn.
He has since said it occurred on Oct. 17, 2021, in a barn in Piccini’s riding. It was not a ticketed political fundraiser — according to photos Mutton sent to The Trillium of the event, there were Piccini election signs up and tables for buying party memberships and making donations. He is seen talking with Piccini both inside and outside of the barn.
Mutton attended the event with a colleague from his consulting firm, Phoenix Kiss, who spoke with The Trillium and said he heard Piccini make the same comments about opening the Greenbelt after the coming election.
Mutton is also seen with former Cavan Monaghan mayor Scott McFadden. The Trillium was unsuccessful at reaching McFadden for comment.
Piccini denied Mutton’s and Kiss’s allegation.
“The assertions referenced are categorically untrue and patently false. The matter being discussed has been covered extensively in public reports, including by the integrity commissioner — none of which reference Minister Piccini,” said a spokesperson for the minister when asked about the podcast.
“For these reasons, to respond with comment would only lend unwarranted credibility to statements that are false and undeserving of serious consideration,” Michel Figueredo’s email continued. “We trust you and The Trillium will govern yourselves accordingly and reconsider publishing articles that give any sort of legitimacy to these claims.”
The spokesperson provided no further statement when asked about the transcript.
The RCMP’s Greenbelt investigation is active and ongoing, and no charges have been laid.
Why wasn’t the Mr. X interview included in the integrity commissioner’s public Greenbelt report?
It was conducted after that report was released.
Wake wrote in his August 2023 report that “Mr. X” was not interviewed during the Greenbelt investigation for two reasons.
The first was that he would be investigated separately under the province’s lobbying law.
Wake’s other reason for not interviewing Mutton earlier was that the Greenbelt investigation was about Clark, and, given all of the other evidence his office already gathered, he didn’t feel he needed Mutton’s testimony to determine if the minister had broken the MPP ethics law.
The commissioner’s Greenbelt report described the testimony of dozens of people, including government officials, developers and witnesses. It was conducted under legislation concerning MPP integrity, with different rules concerning public disclosure than the lobbying law.
The Lobbyists Registration Act, under which Mutton was investigated, bars the commissioner from disclosing “any information, document or thing obtained in the course of conducting an investigation.”
In his Greenbelt report, Wake noted the impact this would have on Mutton’s interview.
“I also note that the (lobbying law) contains clear confidentiality provisions which limit my ability to report publicly,” Wake wrote.
The commissioner cannot initiate new MPP integrity investigations without a complaint from another MPP, although the commissioner has formally requested that this be changed.
—With files from Jack Hauen and Charlie Pinkerton