Premier Doug Ford's Ontario

[WislaHD]

What a mess.

Is it so much to ask for a new political party, that sits between Ford Nation and the Liberals, and competes for urban votes?

 

[pud99]

Separated at birth(s).

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

https://www.thestar.com/news/queens...rnment-to-return-to-arbitration-with-oma.html

View attachment 167556

Blair is what putting right over self looks like. Compare and contrast against Taverner's actions so far.

AoD

 

[EagleEye]

This is so peculiar.

The premier is entitled to a vehicle (by current policy/law) furnished by the OPP, on the books. Bad Taste aside, the only thing that seems to be wrong w/this request is that its 'off the books'.

Barring a further surprise...........this seems like an extraordinary self-inflicted would. Take a legal request, turn it into a scandal by trying to hide it.

That's what I don't understand. If you need a van, nobody is going to care, politicians often have official vehicles. He is either using it for nefarious reasons or he doesn't want people to know he's spending money on what he would consider gravy.

 

[BurlOak]

https://www.thestar.com/news/queens...rnment-to-return-to-arbitration-with-oma.html


Blair is what putting right over self looks like. Compare and contrast against Taverner's actions so far.

AoD

I was thinking the same thing (although I think you wrote it in haste and the point doesn't quite come across clearly).
Taverner look like a saint with ethics and integrity by offering to delay the appointment. More proof that he was the right choice for the job.
The fact that Blair did not do the right thing and step aside will likely destroy his reputation.

 

[Thorns_Embrace]

Lets all be real here, the integrity commissioner is going to find nothing wrong with the OPP commissioner appointment. I have been following politics long enough to know that if there was anything wrong it was covered up, and if anyone gets implicated it will be some no name staffer.

I was thinking the same thing (although I think you wrote it in haste and the point doesn't quite come across clearly).
Taverner look like a saint with ethics and integrity by offering to delay the appointment. More proof that he was the right choice for the job.
The fact that Blair did not do the right thing and step aside will likely destroy his reputation.

I agree that politically Taverner made a really smart move waiting for the investigation(that I think will turn up nothing conclusive).
I don't think Blair has anything to lose at this point in reality though, so I don't think his reputation will be destroyed because he is a no name in the grand scheme.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

I was thinking the same thing (although I think you wrote it in haste and the point doesn't quite come across clearly).
Taverner look like a saint with ethics and integrity by offering to delay the appointment. More proof that he was the right choice for the job.
The fact that Blair did not do the right thing and step aside will likely destroy his reputation.

If Taverner is a saint, he would have refused the appointment out right given his close relationship with the Premier - and especially after the news of the requirements of the position were changed such that he'd qualify. He didn't do that - he chose to do that five minutes to midnight after having the hands forced by an impending Integrity Commissioner investigation with a lawsuit basically forcing one.

Seriously if you want to troll, go do it elsewhere.

AoD

 

[DSC]

Taverner puts a halt to his swearing in as OPP commissioner
Ron Taverner has put his appointment as commissioner of the Ontario Provincial Police on hold, pending a review into his hiring by the Office of the Integrity Commissioner.
“Out of the greatest of respect for the brave men and women of the Ontario Provincial Police, I am requesting my appointment as commissioner be postponed until as such time the integrity commissioner has completed his review,” Taverner said in statement issued Saturday afternoon.

Star: https://www.thestar.com/politics/pr...t-to-his-swearing-in-as-opp-commissioner.html

 

[Thinker]

That's what I don't understand. If you need a van, nobody is going to care, politicians often have official vehicles. He is either using it for nefarious reasons or he doesn't want people to know he's spending money on what he would consider gravy.

Indeed, things kept off the books aren't things that were bought and modified to DOFO's taste. He would have been bragging about "billions" saved and driving in a Folksmobile. With Taverner in place, it would have never come to light. DOFO never counted on the malcontent rank and file. But what the hell he got his revenge on Blair.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

Indeed, things kept off the books aren't things that were bought and modified to DOFO's taste. He would have been bragging about "billions" saved and driving in a Folksmobile. With Taverner in place, it would have never come to light. DOFO never counted on the malcontent rank and file. But what the hell he got his revenge on Blair.

Blair probably knew this would be the outcome when he initiated these complaints. These kinds of "punishments" just make it look even worse.

From Gee:

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/can...y-deaf-to-the-trouble-with-hiring-his-friend/

Democratic countries put a wall between leaders of the government and leaders of the police for a reason. If the police are beholden to those in power, it opens the door to political arrests. Police become guard dogs for the rulers instead of guardians of the public. People stop believing that the police will enforce the law without favour.

Even in a fortunate country like Canada where a descent into authoritarianism is remote, it is unwise to have a top cop who is the chum of a premier. Police sometimes have to investigate government leaders accused of lining their pockets or playing loose with election rules. How is the public going to trust the police to probe potential crimes or misdemeanours of the Ford government with Mr. Taverner in charge?

Mr. Ford would have screamed bloody murder if his Liberal predecessors Kathleen Wynne or Dalton McGuinty had appointed a friend to the top job at the OPP when the Liberal gas-plant scandal was under investigation. The federal opposition would scream just as loudly if Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made a family friend head of the RCMP.

Mr. Ford should know better. He was at Toronto City Hall when police were investigating his brother the mayor during the infamous crack-smoking scandal. How would it have looked if – instead of the estimable Bill Blair – Mr. Taverner had been in charge of the Toronto police? That episode illustrated in Technicolor why police must stay above any suspicion that they might give special treatment to someone in power.

I argue that this is exactly why there is such eagerness to have him in that position, given what have been reported in the Globe and elsewhere.

AoD

 

[lenaitch]

I was thinking the same thing (although I think you wrote it in haste and the point doesn't quite come across clearly).
Taverner look like a saint with ethics and integrity by offering to delay the appointment. More proof that he was the right choice for the job.
The fact that Blair did not do the right thing and step aside will likely destroy his reputation.

Having integrity and being 'saintly' would have been to offer to delay the appointment sometime before the eleventh hour, or perhaps not being a golddigger in the first place. If anybody thinks the press release was written by Taverner himself I have a crater on the moon for sale.

Blair's reputation lies within a profession he committed 30+ years to and I can almost guarantee that they are writing ballads about him as we speak for standing up. Not meekly stepping aside in the face of this fiasco (the process, not necessarily the person) is integrity. He knew that win or lose, the job was no longer his.

I'm more concerned for the near term impact - Ford's pettiness knows no bounds.

 

[tiffer24]

Brother... from another mother.

 

[lenaitch]

Brothers... from another mother.

View attachment 167601

I heard Taverner is on wife number five. Perhaps this is an earlier reunion.

 

[steveintoronto]

What a mess.

Is it so much to ask for a new political party, that sits between Ford Nation and the Liberals, and competes for urban votes?

Greens. They're not the ether athletes they used to be. Schreiner is consistently the voice of reason, logic and foresight in the Legislature.

 

[Northern Light]

Greens. They're not the ether athletes they used to be. Schreiner is consistently the voice of reason, logic and foresight in the Legislature.

Agreed! Something @MTown could likely get behind as well.