Article content continued

The minister said he was acting to rein in the agency on the heels of a report Wednesday by Ontario’s auditor general.

“The auditor general’s report on Waterfront Toronto made it clear that oversight needs strengthening,” McNaughton said in an emailed statement.

“Specifically, the report stated that Waterfront Toronto failed to properly consult with its overseers. This is unacceptable.”

“Waterfront Toronto accepts all Board members appointed by our government partners, who have the full purview to appoint or remove members to the Board of Directors,” spokesperson Andrew Tumilty wrote in an email.

The firings come at a critical time for Waterfront Toronto, the agency leading the development of the Sidewalk Labs project proposed for the city’s eastern waterfront. The project was supposed to be a leading-edge smart city envisioned by Sidewalk, a sister-company to Google LLC. Critics have raised a litany of concerns about privacy, data collection, intellectual property and governance issues, and the public consultation process has been repeatedly delayed and changed.

McNaughton in his statement said that the Sidewalk project was part of the reason he fired the three board representatives.

“I was also shocked to learn the board was given one weekend to examine the most important transaction in its history before being asked to approve it,” he said, referring to the Sidewalk Labs deal.

“On Wednesday, I said I would act on that information. Accordingly, I have informed the three current Provincially-appointed board members that we are bringing new leadership to the board.”