Former Mississauga mayor Hazel McCallion now says she is too busy to work as a special adviser on housing to Premier Doug Ford.

Hours after Ford assured reporters that McCallion — who had been given the patronage post worth up to $150,000 a year on Jan. 18 — would work for free, the 97-year-old said she was taking a pass.

“Unfortunately, due to my extensive commitments, I am unable to accommodate the extensive time required for such an appointment at this point in time,” she said Wednesday.

“As a result, I will not be accepting the formal appointment and the per diem that goes along with it.”

McCallion, who presided over Mississauga from 1978 until 2014, added she is a “phone call away” if Ford ever needs any advice.

In a statement, the premier said “it is a sign of her true character that she didn’t feel comfortable accepting this appointment given the time and energy it would have required.”

But earlier in the day, Ford had said “she’s going to be a great asset at no cost.”

“I saw her over the weekend — man, what a dynamo. She said: ‘Doug, I sit on eight boards. I will help you any way I can, but I’m not taking a salary,” he said, marvelling that McCallion turns 98 on Feb. 14.

The governing Progressive Conservatives have taken much heat from political opponents and on talk-radio shows for hiring McCallion as a high-priced adviser on housing supply in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area.

However, on another patronage post dogging the government, Ford pointedly refused to say whether he would be bound by the recommendation of integrity commission J. David Wake, who is probing the Nov. 29 hiring of Toronto police Supt. Ron Taverner as Ontario Provincial Police commissioner.

The appointment of Taverner, 72, a long-time family friend of the premier, remains in limbo as Wake investigates a complaint from the opposition NDP that there was political meddling in the unusual hiring.

Asked if he would abide by the integrity commissioner’s findings should Wake conclude there was political interference, Ford did not answer directly.

“The integrity commissioner’s going to go through that. I have a great deal of respect for him. I’ll be sitting down and listening to what he has to say ... I think he’s doing a great job, by the way,” he said.

Ford dismissed concerns raised about the Taverner appointment by policing experts and critics, who fear having the premier’s chum as head of the OPP would undermine the independence of the country’s second-largest police force.

“I travel across the province. The only people who talk about it is the media,” the premier said.

NDP MPP Sandy Shaw (Hamilton West-Ancaster-Dundas) disputed that, saying people are concerned because “it’s clear that Doug Ford is scheming to make himself untouchable by any police force that could investigate an abuse of power.”

“Without a truly independent OPP commissioner, Ontarians simply have no recourse,” said Shaw, adding only the government of the day could call in the Mounties to investigate a transgression if the OPP is deemed to have a conflict.

“We can’t trust a close Ford ally to investigate his government and we certainly can’t trust his government to invite the RCMP to conduct any future investigation.”

In his first news conference since Dec. 18, the premier also said “it’s no sweat off anyone’s back” that buck-a-beer — which he promised during last spring’s election campaign and announced with fanfare in August — is fading.

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The lone remaining $1-a-bottle participant, Cool Beer Brewing of Etobicoke, is scaling back its cheap suds promotion to long weekends for the rest of the year, as the Toronto Star first reported Tuesday.

Two other brewers did brief promotions after the government lowered the minimum price for beer to $1 for a standard bottle or can of beer that is below 5.6 per cent alcohol by volume.

“The buck-a-beer was a challenge. We got rid of a regulation, a couple of companies took us up on it,” added Ford, who pointed out he himself does not drink.

Robert Benzie is the Star’s Queen’s Park bureau chief and a reporter covering Ontario politics. Follow him on Twitter: @robertbenzie

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