John Mutton broke provincial law lobbying for a would-be Greenbelt developer, MZO recipients and more: commissioner 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 office overseeing Ontario’s lobbying sector has banned the consultant it dubbed “Mr. X” from lobbying provincial officials for two years after finding he broke government relations laws through work for clients including a would-be Greenbelt developer. The Office of the Integrity Commissioner of Ontario summarized the findings of its investigation into John Mutton’s lobbying of provincial officials and the penalty it imposed against him in a post on its website on Thursday. The office found Mutton, a former mayor of Clarington, “contravened” the Lobbyists Registration Act in a few different ways, for several different clients, spanning the better part of the last decade. Mutton was thrust into the Ontario politics spotlight after The Trillium and other outlets confirmed he was the unregistered lobbyist referred to in the integrity commissioner’s Aug. 30, 2023 Greenbelt report as “Mr. X” — a moniker he later embraced. The Lobbyists Registration Act, the primary law setting the rules for lobbying Ontario government officials, restricts the integrity commissioner’s office from disclosing much about its investigations. However, despite the summary posted online by the integrity commissioner’s office, which QP Observer first reported, not naming specific clients or public officials, The Trillium has confirmed certain details using previously published reports, obtained documents and sources. J. David Wake, the now-retired former integrity commissioner, determined Mutton broke a few lobbying rules through his work for a would-be Greenbelt developer, identifiable as Peter Tanenbaum, including those against lobbying for success fees, offering public officeholders gifts and not registering his government relations work. The commissioner’s office found in its Greenbelt investigation that Tanenbaum’s contract with Mutton would have seen the developer pay him $1 million if an 86-acre property he owned was removed from the Greenbelt and rezoned to allow residential housing. Its report also cited an email from Mutton to Tanenbaum, in which the lobbyist said he at least planned to take the then-housing minister’s top two staff golfing and to a Toronto Raptors game — something they said never materialized. According to the “non-compliance” summary posted by the commissioner’s office, Mutton was paid contingency fees by other clients too, including for securing development fast-tracking minister’s zoning orders (MZOs) for developers. Mutton was also found to have put public officeholders who he lobbied for MZOs in a “real or potential conflict of interest” by helping them with political fundraising around the same time. “For one of these public office holders, Mr. Mutton organized a political fundraiser raising more than $25,000 for the public office holder’s riding association approximately two months prior to the beginning of the 2022 provincial election,” the commissioner’s office stated. “In a lobbying communication to the second public office holder, Mr. Mutton noted he was responsible for bringing $5,000 to a particular political fundraiser and suggested some of these funds might benefit this public office holder, who was participating in that event.” The commissioner’s office also found Mutton’s “non-compliance” with the lobbying law dated back to his work predating Premier Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservatives’ time in power. While the Liberals were in power in 2016 and 2017, Mutton lobbied three provincial officials for a client seeking legislative changes, the commissioner’s office found. The commissioner’s office decided to ban Mutton from lobbying Ontario government officials for two years, the most severe punishment it is currently allowed to impose upon a lobbyist. The office’s publication of its non-compliance summary is also considered a penalty. Mutton hadn’t responded to The Trillium’s request for comment about the results of the integrity commissioner’s office’s investigation before this story’s publication. Mutton reportedly told QP Observer that he felt Wake had made him “the fall guy” in the Greenbelt scandal, which was “completely unfair.” Mutton was the mayor of Clarington from 2000 to 2006. He launched his business, Municipal Solutions, shortly after leaving office. The company’s website describes it as a “multi-faceted firm specializing in development services.” When the integrity commissioner’s office released its report on Aug. 30, 2023, on what led to the Ford government’s Greenbelt removals, the consultant only mysteriously referred to as “Mr. X” was immediately a standout figure. Wake explained in the report that he’d used the pseudonym because “Mr. X” hadn’t responded to the findings and because of the lobbying law’s limitations on his office’s ability to disclose information about its probes of lobbyists — heavily implying his office was further investigating. Days after the commissioner’s office released its Greenbelt report, The Trillium and other outlets confirmed Mutton to be Mr. X. A prolific social media user, Mutton’s online presence immediately generated buzz at Queen’s Park and beyond. He’s posted many pictures of himself with various provincial politicians, including Ford and others in his government, over the last few years. Business ventures he’s dabbled in have included a company focused on medical psilocybin — the compound naturally occurring in magic mushrooms. Outside of his work in politics, lobbying and business, Mutton is a bodybuilder and accomplished jiu-jitsu competitor. On at least a few occasions over the last year-and-a-half, Mutton has posted photos on his Instagram account of him wearing a custom-made “Mr. X”-branded jiu-jitsu hoodie. Several months before the integrity commissioner’s Greenbelt report was released, the Ford government had removed 15 parcels of land, totalling about 7,400 acres, from the heavily protected area. Its plan for developers to build 50,000 homes on the properties was immediately controversial. The controversy escalated as journalists uncovered several connections between Premier Ford and other Progressive Conservatives and the developers who were set to benefit, or their lobbyists. The provincial auditor general’s office estimated in an Aug. 9, 2023 report that developers owning the removed land could have stood to profit by $8.3 billion or more. Reports by the auditor and integrity commissioner contributed to the full-blown scandal that eventually led Ford to apologize and reverse the Greenbelt removals. In its Greenbelt investigation, the integrity commissioner’s office found Tanenbaum hired Mutton to help get 86 acres of land he owned in Clarington, where Mutton had served as mayor, removed from the protected area. Their contract stipulated that Tanenbaum would pay Mutton $1 million if the lands were removed from the Greenbelt and rezoned to allow residential housing. Information the commissioner’s office gathered from interviews, emails and other records showed Mutton was in contact with the then-housing minister’s two highest-ranking staff as they worked on planning the land removals in 2022. Mutton took at least one of them to lunch and wrote in an email that he planned to take them both golfing and to a Toronto Raptors game — which they denied ever going to. Under provincial law, government staff aren’t supposed to accept gifts from lobbyists, and lobbyists aren’t supposed to offer them. The commissioner’s office’s Greenbelt report also noted Mutton was in contact with the housing minister’s staff about MZOs, a provincial tool issued to overrule local planning rules or decisions. MZOs were seldom granted before Ford’s PCs were elected. Since five years ago, the Ford government has issued more than 100, most often to, at least theoretically, speed up timelines for developments. In September 2023, the Toronto Star reported that Mutton had claimed credit for at least three MZOs that developers were issued by the Ford government. In one LinkedIn post from the year before, Mutton touted his company’s success in securing MZOs from the province, referring to his business as “MZO’s (sic) are us.” He had also touted on a real estate podcast in 2023 that “rezoning” is the aspect of development where the most money is made, adding, “Most developers that I know don’t build.” Late last year, the Ford government revoked an MZO issued for a Cavan Monaghan development project by a company Mutton’s firm, Municipal Solutions, had worked for. The property had since gone up for sale. Then-housing minister Paul Calandra said he revoked the MZO “in part because the property’s for sale but, in totality, because of lack of progress.” Another MZO issued to land in Cavan Monaghan that Mutton was associated with was spotlighted in a December 2024 report. According to it and other previously published information, three days after Mutton had taken the former housing minister’s then-deputy chief of staff to lunch in September 2022, this Cavan Monaghan MZO was amended to clarify that concert venues and musical festivals would be allowed on the land. In October 2023, The Trillium reported that Mutton’s company was contracted in 2016 by the Ontario Personal Support Workers Association to “develop a political strategy around short and medium-term objective goals through government relations and provincial … lobbying.” Mutton has only ever registered with the integrity commissioner’s office to lobby Ontario officials on behalf of one client, which he did in November 2023. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police have been investigating whether the Greenbelt scandal involved a criminal element since fall 2023. No charges have been laid so far.