Ron Taverner • mackaycartoons

Friday March 8, 2019

March 15, 2019 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday March 8, 2019

Tories won’t rule out another friend of Premier Doug Ford as OPP head

An unrepentant Community Safety Minister Sylvia Jones is refusing to rule out hiring another pal of Premier Doug Ford as head of the Ontario Provincial Police despite the controversy that derailed the Ron Taverner appointment.

March 6, 2019

Her comments came Thursday as the lawyer for former deputy OPP commissioner Brad Blair — who was fired after blowing the whistle over possible conflicts in the Taverner appointment and a customized van sought by Ford — threatened to sue the province for wrongful dismissal.

February 28, 2019

“If the government hasn’t learned that yet then we are in big trouble. That’s why a public inquiry is necessary,” Horwath said of her push for Wake to broaden his probe, which has seen Ford and others interviewed privately.

Wake’s report is due in the “near future” and will be posted on the integrity commissioner’s website, said spokeswoman Cathryn Motherwell.

December 5, 2018

Ford, who showed up in the legislature’s question period for the first time this week, has been “tone deaf” to the concerns about police independence, charged Green Leader Mike Schreiner.

“Twenty seven people applied for the job,” Schreiner said. “Surely we can find an OPP commissioner who’s qualified to do the job who’s not friends with the premier, creating an unacceptable conflict of interest.” (Source: Toronto Star)

Wednesday December 5, 2018

December 12, 2018 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday December 5, 2018

Integrity watchdog urged to probe appointment of Ron Taverner as OPP commissioner. Taverner is a friend of the Ford family

Controversy is swirling over the Progressive Conservatives’ surprise appointment of a close friend of Premier Doug Ford to head the Ontario Provincial Police.

November 1, 2018

Toronto Police Supt. Ron Taverner, 72, was rubber-stamped by Ford’s cabinet to be OPP commissioner last week.

But iPolitics revealed Tuesday that the government quietly modified the job posting on Oct. 22, and this helped Taverner meet the criteria, as he was two ranks below the initial threshold to qualify for the job.

The original description on the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police website required all applicants to hold, at minimum, the rank of deputy chief or assistant commissioner, iPolitics found.

In the legislature, Community Safety and Correctional Services Minister Sylvia Jones, who took the opposition questions after Ford ducked them, defended the unusual change.

“There was an independent hiring process,” said Jones.

“The cabinet endorsed the hiring committee’s decision,” she said.

December 13, 2013

Jones repeatedly refused to say whether Ford had recused himself from the matter when the decision was made last Thursday.

Conservative sources told the Star the premier was at the cabinet table when the order-in-council was signed last Thursday, a point Ford did not deny during a brief encounter with reporters.

“This is a man that’s served 50 years in this community with credibility,” he said, adding that he, himself, “absolutely” did not make the decision.

Taverner, a 51-year police veteran, is a unit commander in charge of Etobicoke divisions and a close friend of the premier. He succeeds Vince Hawkes, 56, who retired earlier this year.

As a Toronto cop, Taverner made $178,968 last year while the OPP commissioner made $275,907. That’s an annual raise of almost $100,000. (Source: Hamilton Spectator)