Shortly after becoming Premier, Doug Ford demanded changes to his Ontario Provincial Police security detail because he didn’t trust the rotating cast of officers, according to newly disclosed court records.
Internal police e-mails filed in Ontario Divisional Court also show that the Premier’s office was interested in retrofitting a van for his travels, relaying a $50,000 cost estimate to the OPP.
Ontario Provincial Police Deputy Commissioner Brad Blair submitted the internal e-mails to bolster his claim that Mr. Ford and his office have interfered in police operations. The senior officer is asking the courts to order the province’s Ombudsman to review the hiring of Mr. Ford’s friend, Toronto Police Superintendent Ron Taverner, as the next OPP Commissioner.
Deputy Commissioner Blair, who was also a front-runner for the position, went public with his concerns in December, alleging that “inappropriate political interference or cronyism” could impact OPP operations. In his filings and correspondence, he alleged the Premier’s office directed a sole-sourced “off-the-books” request for the OPP to refit an executive van for the Premier’s use. He further alleged the Premier relayed to police that he wanted a meeting with then-OPP Commissioner Vince Hawkes to ask him to replace a rotating security detail for Mr. Ford with permanent bodyguards, and if not, "perhaps a new Commissioner would.”
Deputy Commissioner’s Blair’s most recent court filings, made on Feb. 15, include internal e-mails about Mr. Ford’s concerns and an estimate for the van overhaul. The Premier’s office says, however, he should not be accessing those records and making them public.
“It is extremely troubling that Mr. Blair is apparently using his office to obtain confidential information and documentation and then filing such documents in a public court record to further his own personal agenda in the court process he himself initiated,” said Simon Jefferies, a spokesman for the Premier.
In an e-mail to The Globe, the spokesman added that the allegations about off-the-books purchase requests by the Premier’s office “are a complete fabrication by Mr. Blair and are categorically false.”
NDP MPP Taras Natyshak released a statement saying the van proposal is “wildly inappropriate" when the government is implementing budget cuts elsewhere. "It’s the gravy train for Ford, and cuts for everyone else.”
The OPP e-mails filed in court show that in mid-July, just a few weeks after the Progressive Conservative government had taken power, Mr. Ford expressed concern about his shifting cast of police-assigned bodyguards. In an e-mail to his supervisor, an officer assigned to Mr. Ford relayed the Premier’s displeasure as he prepared to travel to a first ministers meeting.
“[W]hat ... is going on? I’m going to Moncton with 3 officers I don’t know. This is too much. ... I keep getting new people in the truck. I just want my own protection team,” Sergeant Terrance Murphy wrote what Mr. Ford told him after he picked him up to go to the airport. He reported the Premier saying he had no faith in newly assigned bodyguards.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/can...nges-to-his-opp-security-detail-according-to/
Cuts for everyone else, but a gravy train reward for his own use, and his big salary raises to his buddies!!
Internal police e-mails filed in Ontario Divisional Court also show that the Premier’s office was interested in retrofitting a van for his travels, relaying a $50,000 cost estimate to the OPP.
Ontario Provincial Police Deputy Commissioner Brad Blair submitted the internal e-mails to bolster his claim that Mr. Ford and his office have interfered in police operations. The senior officer is asking the courts to order the province’s Ombudsman to review the hiring of Mr. Ford’s friend, Toronto Police Superintendent Ron Taverner, as the next OPP Commissioner.
Deputy Commissioner Blair, who was also a front-runner for the position, went public with his concerns in December, alleging that “inappropriate political interference or cronyism” could impact OPP operations. In his filings and correspondence, he alleged the Premier’s office directed a sole-sourced “off-the-books” request for the OPP to refit an executive van for the Premier’s use. He further alleged the Premier relayed to police that he wanted a meeting with then-OPP Commissioner Vince Hawkes to ask him to replace a rotating security detail for Mr. Ford with permanent bodyguards, and if not, "perhaps a new Commissioner would.”
Deputy Commissioner’s Blair’s most recent court filings, made on Feb. 15, include internal e-mails about Mr. Ford’s concerns and an estimate for the van overhaul. The Premier’s office says, however, he should not be accessing those records and making them public.
“It is extremely troubling that Mr. Blair is apparently using his office to obtain confidential information and documentation and then filing such documents in a public court record to further his own personal agenda in the court process he himself initiated,” said Simon Jefferies, a spokesman for the Premier.
In an e-mail to The Globe, the spokesman added that the allegations about off-the-books purchase requests by the Premier’s office “are a complete fabrication by Mr. Blair and are categorically false.”
NDP MPP Taras Natyshak released a statement saying the van proposal is “wildly inappropriate" when the government is implementing budget cuts elsewhere. "It’s the gravy train for Ford, and cuts for everyone else.”
The OPP e-mails filed in court show that in mid-July, just a few weeks after the Progressive Conservative government had taken power, Mr. Ford expressed concern about his shifting cast of police-assigned bodyguards. In an e-mail to his supervisor, an officer assigned to Mr. Ford relayed the Premier’s displeasure as he prepared to travel to a first ministers meeting.
“[W]hat ... is going on? I’m going to Moncton with 3 officers I don’t know. This is too much. ... I keep getting new people in the truck. I just want my own protection team,” Sergeant Terrance Murphy wrote what Mr. Ford told him after he picked him up to go to the airport. He reported the Premier saying he had no faith in newly assigned bodyguards.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/can...nges-to-his-opp-security-detail-according-to/
Cuts for everyone else, but a gravy train reward for his own use, and his big salary raises to his buddies!!
