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The problem is not that the Ontario government fired Brad Blair, the deputy commissioner of the Ontario Provincial Police.

The problem is that the firing looks dirty – political, punitive and small — because everything about the Blair story thus far has been dirty in the same way.

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First, Ontario Premier Doug Ford hired his old friend, former Toronto police superintendent Ron Taverner, as the next OPP commissioner.

While a long-serving and well-regarded city cop, if also one known to be close to the Ford family, Taverner regrettably didn’t have the requisite qualifications — he hadn’t risen far enough up the ladder — as described in the ad placed by the recruiting agency the government hired to fill the spot.

The ad was pulled after two days, the qualifications lowered to allow someone of Taverner’s rank to qualify: big, dopey mistake, one that would never have been made by Liberals, who better than Conservatives know how to get what they want while seeming to play within the lines.