Chaos is swirling around Premier Doug Ford with his right-hand man forcing a departure at Ontario Power Generation, costing taxpayers up to $500,000 in severance, and another top Tory fighting back over his ouster in the wake of two sex scandals.Three Progressive Conservative sources confirmed to the Star that Fordâs chief of staff, Dean French, phoned OPG chair Bernard Lord to demand that veteran Progressive Conservative political staffer Alykhan Velshi be removed from the Crown utility.Also Tuesday, former PC caucus head John Sinclair broke his silence to say he did not leave his job last Friday over the way another key Ford adviser, Andrew Kimber, was forced out of the premierâs office for sexually inappropriate texts showing himself in a thong.âMr. Sinclair will take all steps necessary to defend his reputation against any defamatory and false statements regarding his character or conduct,â lawyer Scott Hutchison warned in a statement.âAny innuendo or allegations of wrongdoing on his part are without foundation and should be treated with the profound skepticism they deserve.âThe developments raised questions about the five-month-old government.Read more:Former PC staffer John Sinclair fires back as scandals rock Ford governmentDoug Ford accused of trying to sweep Tory sex scandal âunder the rugâOpinion | Heather Mallick: What makes Tory men go from public prudes to pests in private?âOnce again, it looks like the people of this province are going to be stuck with the bill for one of Premier Fordâs decisions and paying the price for settling his political scores,â said New Democrat MPP John Vanthof (Timiskaming-Cochrane). Green Leader Mike Schreiner said itâs âcertainly fishyâ that OPG would hire and then immediately look to fire a senior executive.âThat doesnât pass the smell test. Itâs a waste of taxpayer money,â Schreiner said.Frenchâs call to L ...
|