A cabinet minister accused of making “racist” remarks about wearing a bulletproof vest while touring the Jane and Finch neighbourhood with police has acknowledged he should have chosen his words more carefully, but stopped short of an apology.

“If I had to do it over again, obviously I have learned the way you say things should be, perhaps, more careful, because I honestly didn’t think that I was being offensive,” Community Safety and Correctional Services Minister Michael Tibollo told reporters Thursday.

“I’ve never been in politics before,” added Tibollo, a veteran commercial lawyer whose responsibilities include heading Ontario’s anti-racism directorate under Premier Doug Ford.

The mea culpa came after he refused to apologize and retract his remarks in the Legislature’s daily question period.

“The comments he made in this house are nothing but racist …. They stigmatize the Jane-Finch community,” said NDP Leader Andrea Horwath.

“The fact that this minister doesn’t understand … these comments would be offensive is even more shocking,” she added. “What he needs to do is acknowledge that in the Legislature. He needs to withdraw his remarks and apologize.”

As Progressive Conservative staff tried to extract Tibollo from a scrum with reporters, the minister said alarm over his bulletproof vest comments “means that I’ve got to be a little bit more refined.”

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Asked if he would apologize to Jane-Finch residents, he said, “I didn’t mean to offend them …. I’d like to work with them. I’m going to reach out to them.”

Tibollo, a rookie MPP for Vaughan-Woodbridge, first talked about wearing the bulletproof vest during a ride-along with police in response to a question from New Democrat MPP Kevin Yarde (Brampton-North) on whether the Progressive Conservative government will eliminate carding.

“Personally, I went out to Jane and Finch, put on a bulletproof vest and spent 7 o’clock to 1 o’clock in the morning visiting sites that had previously had bullet-ridden people killed in the middle of the night,” Tibollo said on Wednesday.

“I’m not a police officer, but what I can tell you is they need skills, they need tools to work with. Our work will be to ensure, working with the communities, that we build trust and that we have those tools provided to them to be able to do their jobs properly.”

Tibollo said Thursday that “we are not bringing back carding.”

He noted that police asked him to wear the vest and sign a waiver for the Friday night ride-along on July 7. Police said it is standard procedure because they “err on the side of caution.”

Toronto Mayor John Tory said he has visited Jane and Finch, along with many other neighbourhoods of the city, but felt no need for body armour.

“I’ve never worn one on any of my visits, nor has anyone asked me to,” he said outside a police services board meeting. “I can’t imagine where somebody says, ‘you’d better wear one.’ ”

Liberal MPP Michael Coteau, who was head of the province’s anti-racism directorate in the previous government, said, “I don’t know what the minister was scared of.

“The premier was standing next to him in one picture without a vest on, so I don’t know why he had to put it on. He was proud of it,” said Coteau (Don Valley East).

“If you’re there ‘for the people,’ then be there for the people and go meet the people, rather than hiding in a police car,” he said.

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But Coteau, who is Black, said he wouldn’t go as far as to say that Tibollo’s comment was racist, but “obviously, it was bad judgment. He made a judgment call that ended up stereotyping a community.”

The community group Jane Finch Action Against Poverty said it is “appalling” that Tibollo is heading the anti-racism directorate when his remarks singled out one of many areas marred by gunfire this summer.

“Residents of Jane-Finch … have been experiencing gun violence like many other neighbourhoods across Toronto and the GTA,” a statement said. “Thousands of residents of Jane-Finch, from over 100 cultural backgrounds, proudly live in the neighbourhood, without bulletproof vest or fear of each other.”

With files from David Rider

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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