Ontario's top bureaucrat criticizes Doug Ford over Washington trip
CBC
Ontario's top bureaucrat is admonishing PC Leader Doug Ford and his staff for allegedly trying to use his Washington D.C. trip last week to the party's advantage in the election campaign.
Ford went to Washington on a two-day anti-tariff push, his first of two trips to the U.S. capital during the campaign. Ontario taxpayers covered the costs of meetings and events on the ground, while the PC Party paid travel costs for Ford and the campaign workers who accompanied him.
The head of the Ontario Public Service, Michelle DiEmanuele, ordered Ford's top political adviser not to use video from the trip as campaign material, and says Ford's government office wrongly designated two PC Party campaign workers on the trip as government staff, according to an email obtained by CBC News.
Last Friday, Ford's social media accounts posted a video with footage from the Washington trip, including closed-door meetings with U.S. business and political officials. The video concluded with the PC Party logo and campaign slogan "Protect Ontario."
Later that day, Ford's posts were deleted and the video was re-posted without the party branding.
A PC spokesperson said at the time that the logo and slogan were removed "out of an abundance of caution." However, DiEmanuele's email casts doubt on that explanation, and lays out a different version of events.
"When I became aware that the video was posted on social media with the Progressive Conservative Party Campaign slogan and Party logo, I immediately reached out to the Premier's Chief of Staff to request that the video of the mission not be used for campaign purposes," DiEmanuele says in an email sent Thursday to John Fraser, a Liberal candidate and longtime MPP.
The Ontario Liberal Party provided CBC News with a copy of the email, which was a response to a complaint by Fraser last week.
In the email, DiEmanuele says she has asked Ford's chief of staff Patrick Sackville to consult with Ontario's integrity commissioner on "the appropriate use of video and photographic images of the Premier and ministers on government business during the election period."
As the province's top bureaucrat, also known as the secretary of cabinet, DiEmanuele plays a role in ensuring that Ford and his cabinet ministers do not use government resources for partisan purposes. The integrity commissioner, J. David Wake, provides MPPs advice on ethics and conflict of interest and can investigate complaints made by MPPs.
The email also says that the Premier's office — which continues to function during the election period — listed the two PC Party campaign workers gathering video and photos of Ford as provincial government staff, but did not tell DiEmanuele.
"Their attendance should have been flagged internally and further assessed as part of the election period protocol," she says.
Both DiEmanuele and Wake gave Ford the green light to go to Washington after determining the trip qualified as urgent government business. Both the Liberals and NDP have asked the integrity commissioner to review whether aspects of Ford's trip crossed any ethical lines.
Asked to respond to the concerns raised in DiEmanule's email, PC campaign spokesperson Grace Lee provided a statement to CBC News.
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