Was Ryan Amato forced to resign or did he resign on his own?

A Toronto Star report Thursday quotes unnamed Progressive Conservative sources at Queen’s Park as saying the former chief of staff to Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Steve Clark caught Premier Doug Ford off guard on Tuesday and stepped down on his own.

The report also includes quotes from Amato’s resignation letter as saying the public statements about him in recent weeks have unfairly depicted him and his role regarding the Greenbelt.

He goes on to say he is confident he acted appropriately and that a fair and complete investigation would reach the same conclusion.

Amato has retained prominent employment lawyer Kathryn Marshall.

Amato’s departure came two weeks after he was named in an auditor general’s report for ignoring the usual protocols and personally selecting 14 of the 15 parcels of protected land to be removed from the Greenbelt for developers to build homes.

Meantime, Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner says there is a way out of the Greenbelt scandal for Doug Ford.

“If the premier has any hope of restoring any semblance of public trust around this issue, he needs to accept the auditor general’s recommendation to return these Greenbelt lands back to protect its status, to reverse this decision,” Schreiner told Zoomer Radio’s Fight Back with Libby Znaimer.

Schreiner’s comments came after news the RCMP has taken over from the OPP a probe to determine if a formal criminal investigation should be launched.