TRENTON, ONT.—Premier Doug Ford says he didn’t reveal that former cabinet minister Jim Wilson abruptly resigned Friday over sexual misconduct allegations to protect the privacy of his accuser.“It takes so much courage to come forward,” Ford said Wednesday.“They repeatedly asked us not to make this a media story,” he added, referring also to sexual misconduct allegations against former issues manager Andrew Kimber, who also left the government Friday.“They’re a priority. They trump the media…you want to protect the person.”Read more: Tories go to ground amid swirling scandals at Queen’s ParkInvestigations launched into allegations against former Tory minister Jim Wilson, key aide Andrew KimberPremier Doug Ford shuffles cabinet after Jim Wilson’s departureFord has been accused by New Democrats of a “cover up” for a press release that said Wilson was leaving to seek treatment for addiction.“The addiction issue is a real issue,” Ford told reporters.“We acted immediately. We launched an investigation…I’m not going to put up with it.”Ford’s comments are the first he has made publicly since Friday’s resignations of Wilson, his most experienced minister, and Kimber, a top adviser.Sources told the Star that Wilson, a 28-year veteran MPP, stepped down from cabinet and caucus after a complaint from a male PC staffer about inappropriate behaviour.Initially, the premier’s office only said he was doing so “to seek treatment for addiction issues.”But behind closed doors, cabinet ministers were being assured that was the “public story” while the “real story” was the staffer’s complaint.Similarly, Kimber, the premier’s executive director of issues management and legislative affairs, left Friday after it emerged that texts of a sexual nature had been sent to female PC staffers in the past.The alle ...
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