A couple of attempts by the NDP to have a select committee of the legislature look at the hiring of Ron Taverner as the next OPP Commissioner has been shot down.
Leader Andrea Horwath wants the Integrity Commissioner to take the unusual step of calling a public inquiry.
She calls such a probe ‘sunshine is the best disinfectant’ and that the investigation shouldn’t be done behind closed doors.
Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services Sylvia Jones says the opposition should trust the work of the Integrity Commissioner.
She adds the Commissioner has already launched an independent investigation.
“They report to this chamber, not to individual members so to suggest that they are not in any way independent, and they can’t do the investigation, I think is shameful,” says Jones.
Jones also wants the opposition to let the process play itself out.
“I want to see the NDP say ‘We respect the independent officer, we respect the Integrity Commissioner, and we will allow him the time he and his office need to do the investigation and issue the report.”