RCMP says it can't investigate Ford without government request

QUEEN'S PARK — If Ford succeeds in appointing his ally Ron Taverner as commissioner of the OPP, he could be trying to ensure that neither the OPP or the RCMP will ever investigate him or his government. The NDP is pointing to a letter from RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki that says her police force cannot investigate the Ford government without a request from the Ford government.

“It’s clear that Doug Ford is scheming to make himself untouchable by any police force that could investigate an abuse of power,” said NDP Finance critic Sandy Shaw. “Without a truly independent OPP commissioner, Ontarians simply have no recourse. We can’t trust a close Ford ally to investigate his government and we certainly can’t trust his government to invite the RCMP to conduct any future investigation.

“Ford is stacking the deck in his favour and eroding checks on his power.”

Shaw wrote a letter to Doug Ford, along with his Attorney General Caroline Mulroney and Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services Sylvia Jones, urging that they request an RCMP investigation into an alleged request from the premier’s office to the OPP asking the police to purchase an “off the books” van for Ford.

Despite her request, Shaw said that there’s an obvious conflict in relying on the Ford government to invite the RCMP to investigate the Ford government, which underscores the importance of having a truly independent OPP commissioner.

“Asking Ford to invite the RCMP to investigate his own office cannot be the only recourse Ontarians have when something smells rotten in the premier’s office,” said Shaw. “We needed the OPP during the Liberals’ gas plant scandal, and we needed to trust that the OPP was independent and had no political motivations or influence. We still, and will always, need an OPP with integrity, which is why Doug Ford can’t install his ally at the head of the OPP.”