Ford met with Taverner during job search
Friends’ relationship raises concerns about OPP independence
Premier Doug Ford continued to meet with Toronto police Supt. Ron Taverner even after the search for a new OPP commissioner was underway.
Sources told the Star that Ford had breakfast with Taverner, 72, at Wally’s Grill — a Rexdale diner near the offices of Deco Labels, the Ford family’s business — on Sept. 12.
That was one week after Vince Hawkes, 56, announced he was retiring as Ontario Provincial Police commissioner, trigger- ing the hunt for a new head of Canada’s second-largest force that eventually led to Taverner’s appointment.
The close relationship between the premier and Taverner has raised concerns about the independence of the OPP.
Ford dines frequently with his long-time chum as both the Star and the Globe and Mail have independently confirmed.
On Tuesday, the opposition New Democrats released the premier’s official calendar for Oct. 9, obtained through a freedom of information request, that showed they also lunched at Wally’s Grill that day.
They say meetings between Ford and Taverner during the search for Hawkes’s replacement raise questions about the hiring process.
“Ford has claimed that he had ‘zero influence’ on the choice to appoint Ron Taverner the OPP commissioner, but that story is crumbling,” said NDP MPP Kevin Yarde (Brampton North).
It was a formal complaint from Yarde that sparked an ongoing investigation by integrity commissioner J. David Wake into whether there was political interference surrounding the Nov. 29 appointment.
Taverner has put off assuming the post until Wake’s investigation is concluded, and returned to his previous position with Toronto police in the meantime.
While the premier, who has yet to be interviewed by the eth- ics watchdog, insists he had nothing to do with the hiring, he said it is within his purview.
However, the OPP commissioner’s post has not traditionally been a patronage appointment.
On Monday, Ford told CP24’s Nathan Downer that “if I wanted to, I could appoint you OPP commissioner.
“It’s a political appointment. Kathleen Wynne had a political appointment. Dalton McGuinty and the 14 other premiers prior to that,” Ford said, dismissing a complaint and ongoing court fight by OPP deputy commissioner Brad Blair as “sour grapes.”
Yarde urged Ford to “come clean about events leading up to Taverner’s appointment.”