Ford should welcome police investigation

The Doug Ford team has done a lot of things right in this provincial election campaign. Staffed in part by veterans from Stephen Harper campaigns, they’ve managed to keep their candidate from being too much of a loose cannon, and to keep the focus on the main theme — time for change.

But they have made some mistakes. They endorsed or allowed the firing of Kitchener-Conestoga MPP Michael Harris over texts he sent to a former intern. The Ford campaign claimed there was “unanimous agreement” to fire Harris, but in fact MPPs who were part of the investigation didn’t agree the texts were a firing offence.

The campaign also said the appointment of Mike Harris Jr., son of the former premier, to replace Harris, was a collective decision but it was later acknowledged that Ford personally made that appointment, without consultation.

Then there was the campaign’s dalliance with identity politics when Ford told a northern audience immigrants shouldn’t get available jobs until all nonimmigrant candidates were employed.

But those and other gaffes pale compared to the one they are making right now. Ford has dismissed all calls for police to investigate in the face of evidence that several party nominations may have been interfered with.

Tory candidate Simmer Sandhu resigned from a Brampton riding after his former employer, the company that owns the 407 toll highway, revealed that customer data has been stolen — 60,000 customer names and addresses over the past 12 months. (Sandhu has denied any wrongdoing.)

National Post journalist Tom Blackwell has reportedly seen some of the stolen personal data, linked to another PC operative, that suggests it may have been used to help other candidates. Toronto radio station Newstalk 1010 has reported that the data may have been used, even possibly bought, by as many as two dozen Tory candidates.

After a complaint from the NDP, Elections Ontario is investigating. The Liberals have called for the OPP to investigate. According to reporting by the Globe and Mail, disputed nominations that took place under former PC Party leader Patrick Brown include allegations of ballot-box stuffing, ineligible voters and fake party memberships. York Regional Police have confirmed their Major Fraud Unit is investigating.

There may or may not be a fire here, but there’s enough smoke to justify a full-scale probe. But Ford is having none of that. He says it’s all Patrick Brown’s fault and that he has cleaned up the mess. He also says the PCs will investigate any irregularities internally.

Ford is a relative political neophyte, so perhaps can be forgiven for thinking he can so easily dismiss this potential scandal. But his seasoned party brain trust should know better. This isn’t going away until it has been investigated and explained. And the more the campaign bobs and weaves, the worse it will be. It doesn’t have to be a deal-breaker for Ford. After all, if there was large-scale impropriety, it happened before he was leader and he can continue to throw Patrick Brown under the bus.

But if there are dirty candidates running in the election, the time for Ford and friends to weed them out is now, not after they’ve been elected June 7. That’s just common sense.

Ford has dismissed calls for police to investigate in the face of evidence that several party nominations may have been interfered with.