Ford’s cynical display of political patronage sets a dangerous tone

What Premier Doug Ford knows about Ontario’s health-care system you can place on the head of a pin.

What Ford does know well, though, is how to take care of his friends, even when it comes to this critical field affecting every resident in the province.

That’s clearly evident after a display of crass political patronage by Ford at a level not seen in Ontario in a long time, in which the new premier installed his buddy, Dr. Rueben Devlin, as head of a task force that will look into the hospital system.

As if even he was ashamed of what he was doing, Ford buried the news in the orders-in-council, made public July 6.

There was no formal announcement or news release of Devlin’s appointment a week earlier when the new Conservative cabinet rubber-stamped Ford’s choice at its very first meeting.

Devlin, a former Ontario Progressive Conservative Party president and former Humber River Hospital head, will be paid $348,000 a year, plus expenses, to lead the Premier’s Council on Improving Healthcare and Ending Hallway Medicine.

That makes Devlin one of the highestpaid people on the public payroll in Ontario.

It’s a stunning move by Ford, given how he bragged during the election about how he would “respect the taxpayers” and restrain soaring public sector salaries.

It’s even more telling given that Devlin was one of Ontario’s top-top paid hospital bosses for 17 years, earning some $250,000 a year way back in 2000, some $500,000 in 2010 and even more in subsequent years. He retired as Humber River CEO in 2016.

Contrast Ford’s patronage handout with that of former premier Kathleen Wynne, who in 2015 appointed Ed Clark, former TD Bank Group president, as a business adviser and privatization czar.

Clark’s salary? A mere $1 a year. Without a hint of shame, Ford fired Clark at virtually the same moment he appointed Devlin to his lucrative position.

The ties between Ford and Devlin are deep. They have known each other for years and when the premier’s brother Rob Ford, the late Toronto mayor, became ill, Devlin helped Ford deal with reporters.

During this year’s election, Devlin helped devise Ford’s thin health platform and then served on Ford’s transition team.

While an in-depth look at our healthcare system is needed, is Devlin, who at times has been a controversial figure in both political and health circles, the best person to tackle the job?

In 1986 while an orthopedic surgeon at York County Hospital, Devlin was complaining loudly about a shortage of hospital beds not only where he practises, but across the province.

But even though he was a key Tory power broker during the Mike Harris era, he had little apparent influence in reducing wait times or hospital crowding.

In 2006-07, Humber River Regional Hospital, which he headed, had the second worst death rate in Canada and the worst in the Greater Toronto Area. At that time Devlin had been head of the hospital for almost seven years.

In 2009, emergency wait times at two Humber River sites in northwest Toronto averaged nearly 23 hours and 21 hours respectively during a one-month period, extremely high measures by any standard.

In 2014, the Ontario Nursing Association warned patients that two of Humber River’s busy emergency departments were “dangerous places for those seeking care” because of chronic understaffing.

Also, Devlin oversaw the closing of three hospitals, replacing them with one publicprivate “digital-first” hospital at a cost of $1.76 billion. The new facility has failed to meet the demands of the local population.

Last fall, the Wynne government was forced to reopen one of the closed sites to deal with the crowding issue.

So why the haste — and secrecy — in appointing Devlin? Were no other qualified candidates considered?

And to whom does Devlin really report, health minister Christine Elliott or Ford?

Importantly, this patronage appointment is a clear sign Ford is on a dangerous path of assuming he has the power to do whatever he wants.

It’s also a clear sign his actions will need careful oversight for the next four years.