An Ontario Superior Court judge has been chosen to head a judicial inquiry into conflicts of interest in Mississauga land purchases, including a proposed sale involving Mayor Hazel McCallion's son.
The city announced Justice John Douglas Cunningham's appointment as commissioner in the inquiry on Friday.
Cunningham presided over the recent influence-peddling trial of Ottawa's Mayor Larry O'Brien stemming from the 2006 mayoral election there. Cunningham acquitted O'Brien.
His appointment in the Mississauga inquiry paves the way for the inquiry's fact-finding stage to begin.
Cunningham will lay out the timing and parameters of the inquiry, including how information will be gathered and made public, Mary Ellen Bench, the city's solicitor, said Friday in a statement.
Late last month, Mississauga's city council voted to set up the inquiry, which will look into land deals spanning many years. It is expected to cost more than $2 million and will look into the city's relationship with various developers.
One issue it will examine is whether McCallion made a mistake by failing to disclose a conflict of interest during a 2008 council meeting in which a land deal involving her son's firm was being debated.
The inquiry came about following news that McCallion had held a private meeting with the company her son worked for. The meeting pertained to a land deal that never went through.
Critics of the inquiry have argued it will be too expensive, and that it targets the city's mayor for political reasons.
