The Ontario government’s first “strategic transformation advisor” was abruptly fired Thursday night as the Toronto Star revealed his long-time ties to Premier Doug Ford’s former chief of staff, Dean French, who left government two weeks ago amid a cronyism scandal.Peter Fenwick, a senior bureaucrat in the cabinet office, was dismissed “effective immediately” by the province’s top civil servant, Steven Davidson.Davidson said the decision followed an evaluation of the role created last fall to help government departments become more efficient.“As a result of the review, the transformation office in cabinet office is being dissolved,” he wrote in a memo to deputy ministers obtained by the Star.“I want to thank Peter for his contributions and wish him the best in his future endeavours.”A senior government source told the Star the review of Fenwick’s office began a week after French’s sudden departure. “We didn’t feel the objectives of his original appointment were being met,” the source said privately in order to discuss internal deliberations.“We now have an expanded cabinet that can better achieve the objectives of the transformation office internally,” added the source, referring to a shuffle two weeks ago that increased Ford’s cabinet by one-third.No information on severance pay for Fenwick was available. He was in the job for eight months.As first revealed on thestar.com, Fenwick has been a life insurance customer of French’s for at least 20 years. Hailed as a “distinguished technology innovation leader” when hired for the brand new position last November, Fenwick confirmed his relationship with French to the newspaper as questions continued to swirl about the influence of the premier’s former right-hand man in hiring and appointments. “I have known him for a long time,” Fenwick told the Star when asked if French, ...
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