Ontario’s opposition parties are accusing Premier Doug Ford of acting in the interest of his friends and supporters by creating new jobs and substantially increasing the pay for other jobs that end up going to people he knows.

The charge follows a report from iPolitics that the $270,000 per year job at the Ontario Cannabis Store that was created for Ford’s friend Ron Taverner wasn’t filled after he turned it down.

“It just shows that Doug Ford was searching around for spots for his cronies to land. And when that particular crony didn’t need that position, the position suddenly wasn’t that important to be filled,” NDP Leader Andrea Horwath told reporters Tuesday.

“It’s the pattern with this premier, he likes to find cushy jobs for his crony friends and that’s, I believe, what has happened here.”

[READ MORE: Job for Ford friend at Ontario Cannabis Store never filled]

According to a report by Integrity Commissioner J. David Wake, the premier’s office insisted Taverner be offered a senior executive position at the OCS. Subsequently, Ontario’s top bureaucrat, Steve Orsini, told the top bureaucrat in finance, Greg Orencsak, to ensure the cannabis retailer offer Taverner a position with a salary that would top more than $1 million over its four year contract.

Taverner ultimately turned down the OCS position and later applied to be commissioner of the Ontario Provincial Police. He was awarded the position with the OPP, but eventually turned it down as well amid mounting controversy.

Taverner’s title at the OCS was supposed to be president of community partnerships, according to Wake. Documents obtained by iPolitics, through access to information laws, show the title doesn’t exist in senior management, nor does a similar title turn up in the lower staff positions.

According to Wake’s report, the position was created to address “the government’s concerns regarding cannabis-related criminal activity.”

Finance Minister Vic Fedeli told reporters at the legislature on Tuesday, “The OCS does have a security team in place and its headed up by a former police officer.”

The government and OCS have refused to provide the name of this person, their job title or disclose when they were hired.

iPolitics asked Fedeli three times if the job was created only to provide an opportunity for Taverner or if there was a public interest in the position, each time Fedeli said: “the Ontario Cannabis Store handles all of the HR.”

Interim Liberal Leader John Fraser told iPolitics the Taverner job offer is the latest in a growing list of appointments that show “Doug Ford’s really good at taking care of his friends.”

Fraser highlighted other appointments, including those of Cameron Montgomery and Rueben Devlin, where new or enhanced positions were created for Ford’s friends. There are several other appointments that have also been criticized by the opposition:

Gavin Tighe was made the full-time chair of Ontario’s Public Accounts Council, last year, with an annual salary of $166,666. Tighe represented Ford and the premier’s chief of staff, Dean French, when they were questioned by Wake about Taverner’s appointment to the OPP. Tighe is also representing Ford in an ongoing $5 million libel lawsuit, levelled by fired deputy OPP commissioner Brad Blair.

Cameron Montgomery, a failed PC candidate, was made the chair of the board of the Education Quality and Accountability Office. With his appointment, the Ford government turned the position into a full-time job and bumped the pay up from a $225 per diem to a $140,000 salary, according to the Toronto Star.

Jenni Byrne, Ford’s former principal secretary and a senior campaign member, was appointed to the Ontario Energy Board with a $197,000 salary.

Ian Todd, a senior staff on the Tory election campaign, received a $75,000 pay bump over his Liberal-appointed predecessor, to represent Ontario in Washington, D.C. As first reported by iPolitics, Todd is paid $350,000 per year — the government said the higher pay makes up for the fact that Todd won’t get severance if he’s let go.

Rueben Devlin was appointed to the newly created position as the premier’s special adviser on health care soon after the government was sworn in. Devlin, a former hospital CEO and surgeon, is also the former president of the Ontario PCs and served on Ford’s transition team. He is being paid $348,000 per year.The Globe and Mail has a round-up of Ford’s appointments here.

Taverner’s job offer at the OCS was different from the appointments listed above because it couldn’t be made by order in council, where cabinet has the final say. In Taverner’s case, the job offer had to come from the cannabis retailer and so provincial bureaucrats directed the job offer to be given, according to Wake’s report.

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Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner said the actions of the premier’s office and bureaucrats represents “completely inappropriate interference in the public sector.

“All governments make political appointments, but the Ford government seem to have taken that to a whole new level in terms of appointing friends and supporters at higher salaries, in sometimes inappropriate positions,” he added.

The premier’s office declined to comment on the assertions made by the opposition.

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