Ford meets with transition team, prepares to govern

TORONTO — From choosing cabinet members and hiring political aides, to picking office space and conducting background checks on legislators, Ontario’s newly-elected Progressive Conservatives must tackle a lengthy to-do list as they prepare to take power for the first time in 15 years — and observers say their decisions could set the tone for the rest of their term.

Premier-designate Doug Ford, who announced his transition team a day after his party won a majority, is meeting with senior public servants and will gather his new 76-member caucus for the first time next week.

But behind the scenes, transition preparations have likely been going on for months, said former University of Toronto political science professor Graham White, who co-authored a book on Ontario power changes.

“A good transition is absolutely essential to a successful government,” he said.

The challenge for the Tories, who’ve been out of power for so long, would not be dissimilar to some of the problems the Bob Rae-led NDP encountered nearly three decades ago, said White. Some less-experienced NDP caucus members didn’t trust the public service after years in the opposition, hurting the relationship with the province’s nonpartisan bureaucracy, he said.

While Ford works to form his cabinet, he will also be meeting with public servants who will have done a preliminary examination of the Tory plan, costed some of their promises and will tell the party what could be implemented quickly and what may take more time, White said.

“The public service, literally the morning after the election, has to be in a position to say, ‘premier-designate, here’s our analysis. What else would you like to do?’” he said.

In a memo Friday, Steve Orsini, head of Ontario’s public service, asked senior bureaucrats to help with the transition on a “24/7” basis.

Ford will officially take over from outgoing Liberal premier Katheen Wynne on June 29.