Embroiled in a cronyism scandal, Premier Doug Ford’s government is defending the controversial hiring of a cabinet minister’s father as a way of tapping the talent of “everyday” people.

Education Minister Stephen Lecce was dispatched by the premier’s office Thursday to defend the appointment of Associate Transportation Minister Kinga Surma’s father to a policy advisor’s post as Ford copes with a growing scandal that cost him his trusted chief of staff, Dean French.

“We had too many ivory tower people advising the former Liberal government,” Lecce told at a hastily-called late afternoon news conference when asked about Miroslaw Surma’s qualifications.

He described Surma as “an individual who’s worked in one of the largest sectors of the economy, in telecom, who’s managed a team, who has had very humble beginnings to the country… and has gone through the everyday aspirations as a middle class person who didn’t have a lot of money upon his entrance to this country but made it and worked hard.”

“That is actually a voice that should be informing more cabinet ministers,” added Lecce.

Miroslaw Surma did not return messages Thursday. He serves as a policy adviser to Economic Development Minister Vic Fedeli, worked for predecessors Todd Smith and Jim Wilson in that portfolio and volunteered on Ford’s PC leadership campaign last year.

His daughter, Kinga, is the Tory MPP from Etobicoke Centre, a long-time Ford friend and a member of the premier’s inner circle. She also did not return messages Thursday. Both she and Lecce were elevated to cabinet in last Thursday’s major cabinet shuffle.

A well-placed Conservative source told the Star that staff in the premier’s office were “upset about the decision” to hire Surma and said French was “heavily involved in all ministerial staffing decisions,” although the source could not specify any role played by the former chief of staff in this case.

A high-ranking government official confirmed that Surma, who previously worked at several Ottawa businesses, joined the Ontario government shortly after the Conservatives were sworn in a year ago Saturday.

“He is the first guy in the office and the last to leave. He’s got real-life lived experience in business,” said a third senior insider.

“He’s a very nice man and he’s there every day,” added a fourth senior Tory, speaking confidentially in order discuss internal human resources matters.

Read more:

Doug Ford pressed to expand review of appointments

Ford scrambles to reboot Tory government with massive shuffle

Opinion | Martin Regg Cohn: Why Doug Ford believes himself blameless — a premier besieged by enemies

A spokesperson in Ford’s office emphasized that “every staff member in the government is hired based on merit.”

“If they do not perform to the standards expected they are removed from their positions. We will not comment further on internal staffing matters,” Kayla Iafelice, the premier’s director of media relations, said Thursday.

New Democrat MPP Marit Stiles (Davenport) said the furore over the hiring of Surma and the appointments of two others with French connections to foreign posts — since rescinded with the government now promising to hold a broader review — are “casting a shadow over every single appointment that has been made by this government.”

“Just a few days ago (we) wouldn’t have realized that in order to review an appointment we had to go and look up somebody’s entire family tree,” she added.

French, a Ford friend of some 25 years, resigned as the premier’s chief of staff last Friday night after it was revealed he had awarded six-figure government jobs to his son’s friend, Tyler Albrecht, and his wife’s cousin, Taylor Shields.

Albrecht would have earned $164,910 a year as Ontario’s agent general in New York and Shields was to have made $185,000 as the trade representative in London, England.

Lecce maintained Ford “would not have known the details surrounding the family connections or otherwise.”

Two other appointees remain: ex-PC party president Jag Badwal, a realtor, is being dispatched to Dallas, Texas; Earl Provost, a one-time Ontario Liberal party executive director and former chief of staff to the late mayor Rob Ford, is headed to Chicago. Each will earn $164,910 plus expenses.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

At a news conference on the government’s digital strategy earlier Thursday, Government and Consumer Services Minister Lisa Thompson said the review will ensure people “received their appointment based on their merits and expertise.”

“I’m disappointed, as is the premier, in what has happened,” she said, evading questions on whether the review should be conducted by an independent body as requested by the NDP and the Ottawa-based watchdog group Democracy Watch.

“The fact of the matter is we need to be better,” Thompson added.

It later emerged French friend and retail industry veteran David Colfer was appointed to the Liquor Control Board of Ontario. During his appearance before a legislative committee in February, Colfer was asked if he had a connection to the then-chief of staff, a longtime Etobicoke insurance agent.

Colfer replied that he and French attended Bishop’s University together added he has since “purchased insurance from him” but that he had not spoken to French about the LCBO appointment. The LCBO did not reply to a request for comment.

Last November, the first-term MPP Surma spoke in the legislature about the sacrifices her parents made for her, fleeing communist Poland when she was 4 years old.

“It was a number of years before members of my family could return home,” she said.

During last year’s election campaign, it was disclosed that Ford was secretly taped assuring Tim Hortons patrons that they would not have to pay for PC memberships, a breach of party rules, while he was soliciting support for Surma during a 2016 nomination battle.

While he denied the bogus membership allegations, saying he had never purchased $10 PC memberships for any candidate, he did not dispute the authenticity of the audio recording.

Read more:

Doug Ford pressed to expand review of appointments

On Tuesday, French’s niece resigned as a provincial appointee on the Public Accountants Council. Katherine Pal had been named to the council on Dec. 31 and earned $700 per meeting with four being held annually.

The council is headed by lawyer Gavin Tighe, who acts for both French and Ford.

Tighe, who earns $166,000 as chair of the industry-funded panel, told Newstalk 1010’s Moore In The Morning on Wednesday that Pal was “a remarkably qualified individual.”

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

Read more about: