Ontario's Premier Accountability Dashboard · Queen's Park Watch
Vic Fedeli
Ontario Ministry of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade
Ontario's Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade. As the minister responsible for the Special Economic Zones Act created by Bill 5, Fedeli holds the primary authority to designate any location in Ontario as an SEZ and suspend any provincial law, regulation, or municipal bylaw for entities he designates as "trusted proponents." The power is entirely discretionary — no criteria, no public registry, no time limits — raising the same pay-to-play concerns documented in the Greenbelt scandal.
Connected Scandals
Under cover of a tariff emergency, Doug Ford passed omnibus legislation that repealed Ontario's Endangered Species Act, created law-free "special economic zones" where cabinet can suspend any provincial rule for handpicked companies, and quietly cancelled environmental assessments for a landfill owned by $200,000 PC donors — repeating the exact playbook of the Greenbelt scandal with no limits and no oversight.
As the minister responsible for the Special Economic Zones Act, Fedeli holds unreviewable discretionary power to suspend any provincial law or municipal bylaw for any "trusted proponent" he designates in any SEZ — a power critics describe as constitutionally unprecedented and the Greenbelt mechanism applied province-wide.