Councillor Doug Ford’s alleged discussions with an Australian shopping centre giant about Port Lands development are the subject of a complaint to the City of Toronto’s lobbyist registrar.

In a letter to Linda Gehrke dated Tuesday, Toronto resident Paul Magder quotes a Star story published Thursday revealing Australia-based Westfield Group is part of Ford’s vision for the eastern waterfront.

“They’re more than interested,” said Ford (Ward 2 Etobicoke North). “They have a lot of money sitting there waiting to invest in Toronto.”

The story quoted a Westfield spokeswoman in Los Angeles calling Toronto a “great city.” She said her company is looking for Canadian opportunities, but didn’t confirm any talks.

Magder noted Ford made similar comments to other outlets including the Globe and Mail.

The Toronto Municipal Code states anyone communicating with a councillor or their staff on matters including development, planning approvals and other specified topics must first register with the city as a lobbyist.

The online lobbyist registry was created in response to the MFP computer leasing scandal that revealed how lobbyists had wined and dined senior staff and some politicians to help win contracts.

A separate code of conduct for councillors says they “should not engage knowingly in communications” with anyone who should be registered as a lobbyist but isn’t.

The registry shows no entry for Westfield or anyone listed as representing the company. A search under “Doug Ford” turns up nobody currently registered to lobby him on waterfront issues.

Magder suggests there might have been “secret backroom dealing” and urges Gehrke to launch a full investigation.

In an interview, Magder said he is a manager in the manufacturing business with no direct stake in the waterfront. “I just followed (the issue) in the paper; I’m disgusted that we went to all the trouble to come up with a (waterfront) plan, that may need some tweaking, but now we’re throwing it all out for an asinine plan that came out of the blue.”

After being told of the complaint, Westfield’s Katy Dickey said: “We’re going to continue to decline to comment on rumour or speculation.”

Mayor Rob Ford’s executive committee is debating a motion Tuesday to seize control of city-owned port lands from Waterfront Toronto, which is controlled by the city and the provincial and federal governments.

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