Lobbying by another former close aide of Premier Doug Ford’s has caught the attention of Ontario’s integrity commissioner.
The commissioner’s spokesperson told The Trillium that its office “is aware of information about Mr. (Nico) Fidani-Diker and potential non-compliance with the Lobbyists Registration Act.”
Fidani-Diker worked in various roles close to Ford over much of the last decade, including as his executive assistant. He left the premier's office in December 2020 to work for the PC Party, his LinkedIn profile says, before starting a lobbying business just over a year ago.
Fidani-Diker began lobbying the provincial government last year with ONPoint Strategy Group, a firm that corporate documents show he co-founded last June.
Since last September, Fidani-Diker has registered to lobby on behalf of 21 clients, including 16 that his filings in the provincial registry shows are interested in property development. Four other ONPoint Strategy lobbyists have registered to work on clients’ behalf since last September as well.
“We take our compliance obligations seriously and register all of our mandates as required by applicable law,” Fidani-Diker said in an email on Thursday.
Fidani-Diker is at least the second close ex-aide of Ford’s that Integrity Commissioner J. David Wake’s office has within the last several months come into information about that suggests “potential non-compliance with the Lobbyists Registration Act.”
The other is Amin Massoudi, Ford’s former principal secretary and longtime right-hand man, who runs the firm Atlas Strategic Advisors Inc. Three Atlas lobbyists have registered for clients since last November. Massoudi hasn’t personally registered to lobby since he left the government 11 months ago.
Massoudi denied any wrongdoing by him or his firm in an email last month, saying that “any suggestion to the contrary is false.”
“Based on what we believe is an untrue complaint, the Integrity Commissioner is looking into a matter involving our firm,” Massoudi said on June 13, which The Trillium reported in an article that day.
In Massoudi’s case, The Trillium obtained emails from an anonymous source showing they contacted the integrity commissioner’s office late last year alleging unregistered lobbying by Massoudi and Atlas. Ensuing emails allegedly coming from the watchdog’s staff show them seeking more information about the claims. The commissioner’s spokesperson wouldn’t discuss the authenticity of these emails, but those allegedly sent by staff to the anonymous source match the style and substance of other emails the same staff member has sent.
Excluding what it publishes in its reports, the integrity commissioner’s office is prevented by law from saying much about its work, including whether it’s launched an official investigation into Massoudi, Fidani-Diker, or either of their firms.
Fidani-Diker also did not say whether he was under investigation by the commissioner. “We do, from time to time, communicate with the Office of the Integrity Commissioner to ensure continued compliance,” he said in an email.
Since 2019-2020, the integrity commissioner has launched an average of 14 lobbying investigations each year, Wake’s annual reports show.
The commissioner can launch investigations into lobbyists based on allegations its office receives or on its own initiative.
Ian Stedman, a York University law professor who previously worked in the Office of the Integrity Commissioner, told The Trillium in an email in June that “it is my experience that complaints are taken pretty seriously at that office.”
On launching an investigation, Stedman said the integrity commissioner’s office “doesn’t take their decision to launch one lightly.”
On June 15, Ford said at a media availability that his office “(takes) lobbying very seriously” and that “everyone follows the rules.”
“It is solely up to anyone doing advocacy work with the government to follow all relevant rules,” a spokesperson in the premier’s office said on July 20 in an email in response to questions about Fidani-Diker’s lobbying.
The integrity commissioner can ban someone from lobbying for up to two years if he finds they’ve broken lobbying law. When determining from an investigation that someone broke lobbying law, the commissioner can publish specific information about the case if he believes it’s in the public interest.
Lobbyists who used to work in the government or have recently been involved in political activities, like provincial election campaigns, are supposed to follow special rules.
Former employees of ministers’ offices, including the premier’s office, are outlawed from lobbying their former bosses and office for 12 months.
Holding senior positions on an election campaign, sitting on a riding association’s board, or organizing fundraising events are examples of political activities putting a lobbyist at a “higher risk” of violating conflict-of-interest sections of the Lobbyists Registration Act, according to guidelines on the integrity commissioner’s website.
The Public Service of Ontario Act also prohibits former government staffers from advising or assisting any person or company outside the government “about a particular proceeding, negotiation or other transaction” they advised the government on.
According to Fidani-Diker, he never advised the government on business a few of his clients had that The Trillium asked him about.
Fidani-Diker’s time working in Ford’s orbit dates back a decade. He was an assistant to the premier’s late brother while Rob was mayor of Toronto. Fidani-Diker’s family is also friends with the Fords, according to reporting from 2013.
When Doug Ford became leader of the Progressive Conservatives, Fidani-Diker became a tour adviser for him, his LinkedIn profile says. He then became Ford’s executive assistant when the PCs were elected in June 2018. After almost two years as Ford’s assistant, Fidani-Diker became a manager of stakeholder relations, which he was for most of 2020, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Fidani-Diker then moved to work for the PC Party as its manager of stakeholder relations and development, his LinkedIn profile says. He was part of the party’s campaign team in last year’s provincial election.
Corporate records show Fidani-Diker co-founded ONPoint Strategy Group on June 14, 2022, just under two weeks after the election.
Fidani-Diker is still close with Ford on a personal level. He attended the premier’s daughter’s wedding last September, as well as the infamous stag-and-doe party that Ford hosted before it.
