Former Ontario cabinet minister Kaleed Rasheed won’t run for another term in office, an announcement that comes more than a year after he left the Progressive Conservative caucus over a Greenbelt-adjacent scandal.
In a statement posted on social media, the MPP for Mississauga East-Cooksville said the decision was “not made lightly,” but stressed he would continue on until the end of the term.
“I have had the privilege of working alongside some of the most talented and dedicated colleagues under inspiring leadership,” Rasheed said in his statement.
“The experience has been nothing short of transformative.”
Rasheed, who was first elected in 2018, was appointed as the minister of public and business service delivery after the government was re-elected in 2022 — a role he held until his resignation in September 2023.
Rasheed’s exit from the party came after he, along with other members of the premier’s inner circle, was ensnared in a scandal related to a trip to Las Vegas in 2019 that raised questions about the government’s relationship with developers.
The MPP also faced scrutiny over his testimony to the integrity commissioner about the trip, which critics believed was inconsistent.
While Rasheed insisted that he wasn’t a cabinet minister at the time of the trip and denied any wrongdoing, Ford refused to allow him back into the PC caucus until he cleared his name with the integrity commissioner.