Time for a fresh start

The jig is up for the appointment of Ron Taverner as commissioner of the Ontario Provincial Police. Everyone seems to know this but the man who most wants him in the job, Premier Doug Ford.

Even Taverner appears to have taken this on board. To his credit, he did the right thing on the weekend by requesting that his appointment be delayed until a review by the provincial integrity commissioner is completed. And by rescinding his resignation from the Toronto police force he sent out a clear message that he himself has major doubts about the whole thing.

Whatever the final outcome, this affair has turned into a fiasco for the Ford government.

It has brought into sharp focus all the flaws of this deeply flawed administration. Among them: the bully at the top, insisting on his way, no matter what; the tendency to bend the rules to the breaking point; the political flunkies manoeuvring behind the scenes to get the premier’s cronies into key jobs; the cavalier disregard for the wider public interest.

In this case, the damage goes beyond that. The way this saga has unfolded has embroiled the OPP, which ought to be above political suspicion, in an entirely unnecessary controversy. And it should not be overlooked that it has tainted Taverner himself.

Until his appointment was announced just over two weeks ago, Taverner was a superintendent in the Toronto Police Service with an impressive 51 years of service under his belt. He had the respect of his fellow officers and a long track record of service to the community.

Now, even if (and it’s an if that grows bigger and bigger by the day) he does eventually become commissioner of the OPP, there will be a cloud over him that will never go away.

Like it or not, fairly or unfairly, he’ll always be known as the premier’s personal pick. And when, inevitably, it falls to him to make delicate decisions involving investigations into government matters, there will always be a suspicion that he’s the premier’s personal pawn.

That should effectively rule him out of the job, no matter what the integrity commissioner’s review concludes. As many people with experience at the highest levels of policing have said in recent days, the concerns about potential conflicts of interest will persist no matter what.

They include Bob Paulson, a former RCMP commissioner, who asks: “How is the public ever going to have confidence?... Every investigation of the government is going to be tarred.” Chris Lewis, a former commissioner of the OPP, and Brad Blair, who served as acting commissioner of the force until this past weekend, have voiced similar concerns.

This isn’t really fixable, since it’s all about perception and trust.

Certainly, the integrity commissioner should go ahead with his review. And the provincial ombudsman should interpret his mandate in a way that would allow him to see if any rules have been broken. The ombudsman’s jurisdiction will be reviewed in court as a result of a request from Blair, but that may take weeks. Meanwhile, the doubts about Taverner’s appointment will fester.

The only clean outcome here is for the government, or Taverner himself, to withdraw this ill-judged appointment and start over in a transparent, non-partisan manner.

That would be best for the OPP, which deserves strong new leadership able to command the highest degree of credibility. At this point, it would be best even for Taverner. His opportunity to serve in a way that does justice to the force and to his own professional reputation has been already been irretrievably spoiled.

A fresh start would certainly be best for the public interest. It’s elementary that the people of Ontario need to be able to have complete confidence in the top leadership of their provincial police force, the second biggest in the country and the one expected to investigate matters involving politicians and government officials.

Right now that means finding someone else to occupy the top job.

This affair has turned into a fiasco for the Ford government