The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) says it’s reviewing a recent Ontario Ombudsman report surrounding a 2016 hiring scandal in Niagara Region with ties to two senior City of Brampton staffers, including recently hired CAO David Barrick.

On Dec. 5, Niagara Region council passed a unanimous motion to forward the findings from Ontario Ombudsman Paul Dubé in a report titled “Inside Job” to the Niagara Regional Police Service (NRPS), with a request for a full police investigation into the matter.

The NRPS has since forwarded the request to the OPP to avoid any possible conflicts of interests.

“Just before Christmas, we did receive a request from Niagara Police Service. We’re currently reviewing the information to determine if we will launch a full investigation into it, but it’s at the review stage right now,” Ontario Provincial Police media relations co-ordinator Carolle Dionne told the Brampton Guardian on Jan. 3.

A nearly two-year investigation by the St. Catharines Standard newspaper revealed Barrick, who was hired as Brampton CAO in October 2019, and Brampton’s strategic communications director Jason Tamming were both allegedly implicated in the tainted hiring process of Carmen D’Angelo as Niagara Region CAO in 2016.

The ombudsman, in his Nov. 29 report, described the process of D’Angelo’s hiring as “unreasonable, unjust and wrong."

Barrick and Tamming did not respond to the Guardian's requests for comment. The City of Brampton's communications department directed the Guardian to the mayor's office for comment.

In a statement, Mayor Patrick Brown said, “City Council unanimously supported the hiring of David Barrick as our CAO. His interview was very strong. He has the energy, experience and ideas to implement City Council’s ambitious agenda and priorities. There were no concerns raised by Feldman Daxon Partners which is Canada’s longest-standing national provider of executive search services. City Council is very pleased with the work David has done since he was hired in October. City Council’s only hire is the CAO and he is not named in the report. I am confident that Mr. Barrick will effectively lead our City staff.“

According to the Standard’s investigation, Barrick – a Port Colborne councillor in 2016 who was also working concurrently for D’Angelo while the latter was serving as CAO for the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority (NPCA) – is reported to have sent an email to regional treasurer Jason Burgess on April 15, 2016, asking him to promote D’Angelo as the best candidate to other municipal staff in exchange for political favour.

“You would have influence with him,” Barrick allegedly wrote in the email obtained by the Standard.