The day before he resigned as Premier Doug Ford’s chief of staff amid a cronyism scandal, Dean French orchestrated the dismissal of the chair of a $60-billion public pension`s board and appointed three new members, the Star has learned.On June 20, David Leith, the chair of the Investment Management Corporation of Ontario, was advised in writing that his services would no longer be required even though the respected Bay St. veteran had been expected to be reappointed to the $150,000-a-year post when his term expired June 30.In what ended up being his penultimate day as Ford’s chief of staff, French decreed that Neil Selfe, Brian Gibson, and Geoffrey Belsher would be joining the board that manages assets on behalf of the Ontario Pension Board and the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board.Reached by the Star on Friday, French hung up the phone when a reporter identified himself. He did not respond to an email with detailed questions about the moves.Leith, a former top CIBC executive who has a masters from Cambridge University, declined to comment on Thursday.The IMCO board now has nine members, but no chair.Members are paid $50,000 annual retainers plus expenses, as well as an additional $1,500 per meeting attended, and $10,000 if they chair one of the board’s three committees. In 2018, some board members participated in 14 meetings, meaning they earned $71,000 from IMCO.Sources close to Ford said French had concerns about IMCO president and CEO Bert Clark, and wanted to expand and shake-up the board.Clark did not returns messages from the Star. He is the former president of Infrastructure Ontario and the son of Ed Clark, the one-time TD Bank chief executive who later served as Liberal premier Kathleen Wynne’s privatization guru.Progressive Conservative insiders, speaking confidentially in order to discuss internal deliberations, said French felt IMCO was not performing as well as it should be and wanted the board to replace Clark, who made $ ...
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