{"id":194106,"date":"2018-12-15T23:52:54","date_gmt":"2018-12-16T04:52:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=194106"},"modified":"2018-12-15T23:52:54","modified_gmt":"2018-12-16T04:52:54","slug":"controversial-appointment-of-toronto-cop-ford-ally-as-opp-commissioner-delayed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/12\/15\/controversial-appointment-of-toronto-cop-ford-ally-as-opp-commissioner-delayed\/","title":{"rendered":"Controversial appointment of Toronto cop, Ford ally as OPP commissioner delayed"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Community Safety Minister Sylvia Jones says\u00a0the\u00a0government will respect Ron Taverner’s request for a delay in his appointment, which was supposed to take place on Monday. (File Photo<\/a>: @SylviaJonesMPP\/Twitter<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

TORONTO \u2014\u00a0The\u00a0Ontario government is delaying\u00a0the\u00a0appointment of\u00a0the\u00a0man set to become\u00a0the\u00a0province’s top cop until an investigation into allegations of political interference in\u00a0the\u00a0hiring process is complete.<\/p>\n

Community Safety Minister Sylvia Jones says\u00a0the\u00a0government will respect Ron Taverner’s request for a delay in his appointment, which was supposed to take place on Monday.<\/p>\n

Instead, acting commissioner Brad Blair will be replaced at\u00a0the\u00a0helm of\u00a0the\u00a0OPP by Gary Couture, who is currently\u00a0the\u00a0force’s deputy commissioner.<\/p>\n

\u201cI understand\u00a0the\u00a0preference for an alternative Interim Commissioner and will co-operate in every respect,\u201d Blair said in a statement released on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Blair’s lawyer, Julian Falconer, said in a conference call with media on Saturday that his client will be \u201cregressed\u201d from his role as interim commissioner on Monday.<\/p>\n

On Friday, Blair asked\u00a0the\u00a0courts to order Ontario Ombudsman Paul Dube to investigate Taverner’s hiring, after\u00a0the\u00a0ombudsman declined his request to carry out\u00a0the\u00a0probe.<\/p>\n

Falconer said Saturday that Blair will continue with\u00a0the\u00a0legal proceedings.<\/p>\n

Taverner, a longtime family friend of Premier Doug Ford, currently commands three divisions within\u00a0the\u00a0Toronto Police Service.\u00a0The\u00a072-year-old did not initially qualify for\u00a0the\u00a0role, but\u00a0thegovernment has said it lowered\u00a0the\u00a0requirements for\u00a0the\u00a0job to attract a wider range of candidates. Blair, who was among 27 candidates up for\u00a0the\u00a0commissioner position, has contended that only four did not meet\u00a0the\u00a0original threshold.<\/p>\n

However,\u00a0the\u00a0Progressive Conservatives have repeatedly denied that\u00a0the\u00a0premier’s office had anything to do with Taverner’s hiring.<\/p>\n

Taverner did not immediately respond to a request for comment on\u00a0the\u00a0delay, which he requested in an email to Jones that was obtained by\u00a0The\u00a0Canadian\u00a0Press.<\/p>\n

\u201cOut of\u00a0the\u00a0greatest of respect for\u00a0the\u00a0brave men and women of\u00a0the\u00a0Ontario Provincial Police, I am requesting my appointment as commissioner be postponed until as such time\u00a0the\u00a0integrity commissioner has completed his review,\u201d he wrote in\u00a0the\u00a0email.<\/p>\n

Falconer said he understands how it could look like Blair’s push for an investigation is about his \u201cpersonal agenda\u201d but he said\u00a0the\u00a0commissioner is doing it to maintain\u00a0the\u00a0reputation and integrity of\u00a0the\u00a0OPP.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Opposition NDP said on Saturday that in addition to\u00a0the\u00a0integrity commissioner’s investigation, it is calling for an emergency select committee of\u00a0the\u00a0legislature to look into\u00a0the\u00a0process.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are relieved that Mr. Taverner will not be appointed on Monday,\u201d said NDP Deputy Leader Sara Singh. \u201cHowever, we are still very concerned. I think this step will allow us to have some integrity and trust maintained within\u00a0the\u00a0Ontario police service.\u201d<\/p>\n

Falconer said he believes a committee of MPPs could also be a beneficial avenue to investigate\u00a0the\u00a0possibility of political interference.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TORONTO \u2014\u00a0The\u00a0Ontario government is delaying\u00a0the\u00a0appointment of\u00a0the\u00a0man set to become\u00a0the\u00a0province’s top cop until an investigation into allegations of political interference in\u00a0the\u00a0hiring …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":194114,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-194106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news-ca","category-news","mauthors-alanna-rizza","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=194106"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194106\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/194114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=194106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=194106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=194106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}