Ford busted giving away plum appointments to friends while cutting services for Northern Ontarians: NDP

QUEEN’S PARK — After cutting funding for education, health care and autism services in Northern Ontario, and across the province, Doug Ford was busted giving away six figure salaries in plum government appointments to his friends, said NDP Deputy Leader John Vanthof.

Two of the four appointments made yesterday have already been cancelled because Ford was caught giving them to close friends and family of the premier's office.

“After Doug Ford cut funding for hospitals, schools, and children with autism in Northern Ontario and across the province, he was caught handing out plush six figure jobs to close friends in newly created government positions in New York, Chicago and London," said Vanthof. “Now that he was busted, he is trying to sweep these outrageous appointments under the rug.

"After 15 years of Liberal cuts devastated northern services, Doug Ford is showing us just how bad the Conservatives can be by firing nurses, health care workers, teachers, and cutting services for children with autism, while he doles out jobs to close friends with salaries higher than most people."

On Thursday, the Ford government quietly appointed four Conservative insiders to six-figure jobs in exotic foreign locales – recreating agents-general positions that were deemed unnecessary in the 1990s. They included a relative of Dean French’s wife, Taylor Shields; Dean French’s son’s friend, Tyler Albrecht; Rob Ford’s former chief of staff Earl Provost; and the president of the Ontario PC Party Jag Badwal.

On the day of the appointment, the social media accounts of Tyler Albrecht were hidden from view in an obvious attempt to hide how inappropriate that appointment was. Screen captures show the 2016 grad made liberal use of homophobic slurs and anti-women language on his account.

Albrecht and Shields’ appointments have since been cancelled.

"While Northerners pay the highest gas prices in the province, and the cost of living goes up, Doug Ford is telling us to tighten our belts, while he gives away jobs to his buddies to live lavish lifestyles in the most expensive cities in the world, all paid for by us," said Vanthof. "Northerners deserve far better than that.”