Ford welcomes Wilson back to legislature, not PC caucus
Premier Doug Ford has warmly welcomed back former Progressive Conservative MPP Jim Wilson to the legislature, but there are no imminent plans for him to return to the government caucus.
Ford ejected Wilson from cabinet and the Tory benches last November after a sex scandal involving a male PC staffer, which led the veteran Simcoe Grey MPP to seek treatment for alcohol.
As the house resumed Tuesday, the premier was the first person to greet his former minister, who now sits in the back row as an independent on the other side of the legislature.
Ford’s hearty handshake cleared the way for other Tory MPPs — as well as a few opposition members — to also make a beeline to Wilson, who was visibly pleased he was no longer being shunned.
While the Tories said a “thirdparty investigation” into his conduct has been completed, Wilson disputed that.
“There was no investigation that I know of. I was never interviewed or anything like that,” the MPP told CityNews’ Jamie Tumelty in a brief interview.
“Once I went to rehab … I think the complainant was happy that I undertook every measure that I could to get my life back under control and to make amends,” he said.
Wilson told Tumelty that he is not trying to get back in the PC caucus in “the immediate future.”
“I need more time to heal and to look after my condition and I need to time to reconnect with my constituents, so that’s what I’m going to do.”
Government House Leader Todd Smith said Ford has had “conversations” with Wilson since the scandal.
But Smith cautioned not to “read anything too much into it except for the fact that Mr. Wilson was here as an independent member of the legislature.”
NDP Leader Andrea Horwath, however, said questions continue to swirl about whether the Tories actually looked into the allegations against the former economic development minister.
“I don’t how you have an investigation when you’re not talking to all the parties involved,” said Horwath.
“Mr. Ford is claiming that there’s been an investigation and yet Mr. Wilson is saying that nobody talked to him at all.”
The November defenestration of Wilson was personally hard for the premier.
Ford had privately referred to the veteran, first elected in 1990 and who was his most experienced minister, as “my security blanket in cabinet.”