$128,580 pay bump for Ford-linked exec, chair of Land Tribunal

EDITOR’S NOTE: This article originally appeared on The Trillium, a new Village Media website devoted exclusively to covering provincial politics at Queen’s Park.

The Ford government's pick to lead Ontario's land-use-planning adjudicator will be collecting $128,580 more over his five-year term, thanks to a recent cabinet decision.

Michael Kraljevic is now set to earn $1,019,875 from the provincial government by 2028 as chair of the Ontario Land Tribunal, his public-appointee pay schedule shows. Premier Doug Ford's cabinet approved a March 23 order awarding him the increased pay of a tribunal "executive chair" instead of that of a "chair." Before that, Kraljevic was slated to make $891,295 in taxpayer funds over his five-year appointment.

The Ontario Land Tribunal adjudicates "land-use planning, environmental and natural features and heritage protection, land valuation, land compensation, municipal finance, and related matters," its website says.

Kraljevic has three decades of experience working in public- and private-sector development and real estate. He and the premier also have a history.

As a city councillor in 2013, Ford pushed for Kraljevic to become CEO of Build Toronto, the Toronto Star and Globe and Mail reported at the time. Build Toronto manages a portion of the city's real estate portfolio, with a focus on creating value out of the city's underutilized land assets.

In 2013, Kraljevic was CEO of Toronto Port Lands Company, which owns and manages more than 400 acres of waterfront land, while one of Ford's council roles was vice-chair of Build Toronto.

In 2011, Ford and his late brother, then-mayor Rob Ford, tried to win council's support to replace plans for the eastern waterfront area in the city's downtown with one preferred by the Port Lands Company. Their plan, which didn't succeed, included building a shoreline monorail and "megamall."

Multiple of Build Toronto's board members resigned amid Ford's push for Kraljevic to take over Build Toronto. Bill Bryck was eventually appointed its CEO, while Kraljevic remained atop the Port Lands Company.

Toronto Life also reported that Kraljevic and Ford played on the same football team in high school, but also that Ford said they went two-and-a-half decades without speaking to one another.

During Build Toronto's 2013 CEO hunt, Ford denied that he had tried to unduly influence the appointment in Kraljevic's favour.

On Tuesday, The Trillium sent questions by email about Kraljevic's Ontario Land Tribunal appointment and pay raise, plus his relationship with Ford, to Kraljevic, the premier's office, and the office of Ontario's attorney general, which is responsible for tribunal appointments. Neither Kraljevic nor the attorney general's office responded by a deadline of 4 p.m. on Wednesday. Kraljevic also did not respond to a call or voicemail on Wednesday before this story was published.

Ford's office responded but didn't answer the specific questions that were posed.

"Like all governments of all political stripes, we appoint individuals that will advance and implement our government’s mandate to deliver on our plan to build Ontario," a spokesperson for the premier said.

Kraljevic's first provincial appointment came when the Ford government put him on Metrolinx's board of directors in January 2019, seven months after the Progressive Conservatives came into power. In January 2022, after his initial three-year term on the board, he was re-appointed for another two years but has since resigned. 

On June 1, 2021, the merger of a few tribunals into the Ontario Land Tribunal was completed, with Marie Hubbard, a longtime Clarington politician, as its chair. She had chaired one of the tribunals that were amalgamated into the new one before its creation.

Hubbard died in August 2022. The tribunal's alternate chair Greg Bishop filled in for a stint before Kraljevic's eventual appointment.

Kraljevic was made the tribunal's interim chair for six months "on an urgent basis" in August 2022.

Another order from cabinet appointed Kraljevic full-time chair for five more years once his six-month term expired.

“Through the timely resolution of disputes in a fair, efficient and transparent manner, the Ontario Land Tribunal plays an important role in Ontario’s economic growth and housing supply," Kraljevic said in a statement on the tribunal's website at the time of his five-year extension.