Stop the slide to cronyism

Of all the destructive things that Doug Ford has wrought since his government took office at the end of June, surely none is worse than the damage he has inflicted on the credibility of Ontario’s most important police force.

Of course, there’s an awful lot of competition. Weakening rules on the environment, axing crucial watchdog positions, sabotaging Toronto’s municipal election, undermining Hydro One... the list goes on.

But naming an old Ford family friend to be commissioner of the Ontario Provincial Police, manipulating the rules along the way and putting the independence of the force at risk takes the cake. Don’t believe us, or other critics of the Ford government. Or even ex-cops like Chris Lewis, the former OPP commissioner who called the appointment of Toronto Police Supt. Ron Taverner to the top job “a travesty.”

As of Wednesday, the most damning criticism comes from the man who actually stands at the head of the OPP itself as interim commissioner of the force.

Brad Blair, a 32-year veteran of the OPP who the Ford government itself trusted enough to appoint as interim commissioner, warns bluntly that if Taverner’s appointment goes ahead under the current cloud of suspicion about political interference, the result will be “irreparable damage to police independence.”

Even now, he says, just the perception of interference “has deeply affected the morale of the rank and file.” He goes on: “The officers know the consequences to come: If the police are to command public confidence and active co-operation, they must have the unfettered confidence of the people of Ontario. That is, the concern of political interference runs counter not only to the principles of a democratic society, but also to fully effective policing.”

Well put. Blair is calling for a delay in Taverner’s appointment, which is scheduled to take effect on Monday, pending a review of his hiring by the provincial ombudsman, Paul Dubé. He is right that, at this point, only such a move can “lift the cloud that has been cast over the OPP and ... restore public confidence in the independence of the OPP.”

It’s sadly predictable what is likely to happen now. The Ford government is digging in its heels, saying it stands by the appointment and insisting Supt. Taverner has been “unfairly maligned” despite his 50-plus years of police service. It is to be fully expected that attacks will be launched on the credibility of Blair himself; he freely acknowledges that he applied to be commissioner and no doubt he will be portrayed by government apologists as a sore loser.

But whatever his personal motivation for speaking out, the facts in his extraordinary letter to the ombudsman speak for themselves.

He lays out in detail how the hiring process for the new commissioner was changed along the way to smooth the way for Taverner and make it possible for him to jump up several ranks to become chief of the second-largest police force in the country.

This for a man who has had close ties to the Fords during his lengthy service as superintendent of Toronto police in Etobicoke. It’s all far too cosy, hence the fears both outside and inside the OPP that under the new commissioner the force may be open to political manipulation.

At the same time, Blair makes some remarkable assertions about the premier’s office and OPP that need to be cleared up regardless of what happens with Supt. Taverner.

What on earth, for example, is the public to make of the claim that Ford’s chief of staff, Dean French, demanded that as part of the OPP’s security for the premier, the force purchase a “large camper type vehicle and have it modified to specifications the premier’s office would provide us”? And that costs for the vehicle “be kept off the books”?

If true — and we deserve to know the facts — this would be at the bare minimum a violation of financial policies, and possibly a crime.

Blair’s letter recalls the damage done to the OPP’s reputation during the Ipperwash crisis two decades ago, when lines were blurred between the force and the Harris government. That led to a ruling by the Supreme Court of Canada that police should not be the “servant or agent” of the government of the day or subject to “political direction.”

That’s the line the Ford government is crossing now, to the detriment of both the public and the police themselves.

The facts in Brad Blair’s extraordinary letter to the ombudsman speak for themselves