Ford says he wasn’t involved in hiring of family friend as OPP commissioner

Premier Doug Ford is denying any involvement in the appointment of a family friend to the top job at the provincial police force.

Ford insists that Ronald Taverner was selected to become the next commissioner of the OPP through a transparent hiring process.

Last week, 72-year-old Toronto police service superintendent Ron Taverner was selected by the government to be the next commissioner of the Ontario Provincial Police.

“They came up with a panel. They interviewed people and it was unanimous decision and I told them very clearly that I didn’t want anything to do with this whatsoever,” said Ford.

The community safety minister said the requirements for the job were changed partway through the hiring process to broaden the pool of applicants. According to reports, the original commissioner job posting required candidates to have a rank of deputy police chief or higher. Taverner’s rank of superintendent is two positions lower than that.

The official opposition leader has called for an independent investigation into the appointment and the Liberal interim leader agrees, saying it’s reasonable to believe there was political interference.

There are concerns over the transparency of an investigation, if the integrity commissioner launches a probe into the hiring, the final report may not be made public. It would be up to the Premier to disclose any findings of an investigation.

According to Ontario’s Sunshine list, the superintendent made about $180,000 last year and would see a big raise as the OPP commissioner.

He’s expected to earn $276,000 a year, more than a 50% increase to his current salary.