Premier Doug Ford is facing a growing chorus claiming he tried to sweep a sex scandal “under the rug” as MPPs returned to the legislature for the first time since the bombshell departures of a cabinet minister and two senior staffers.

The Greens and Liberals joined the New Democrats in charging Ford tried to trick Ontarians over the real reason for the sudden departure of economic development minister Jim Wilson 10 days ago.

“It’s obviously political,” Green Leader Mike Schreiner said Monday. “They were trying to mislead people as to why the minister resigned. That’s unacceptable. The premier failed on that account.”

Wilson, a Progressive Conservative MPP since 1990 and a former minister under Mike Harris and Ernie Eves, left Ford’s cabinet and caucus abruptly Nov. 2. A brief statement from the premier’s office said he was seeking addiction treatment.

It later emerged that Wilson was asked to resign over allegations of sexual misconduct involving a male staffer the night before on a business trip to Sarnia. He has entered an alcohol rehab centre.

The premier insisted the full reason Wilson’s exit was not mentioned was to “protect” his accuser’s privacy.

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“This is the best cabinet and the best caucus this province has seen — ever,” Ford boasted Monday, exactly a week after he shuffled his cabinet to replace Wilson and to demote Michael Tibollo from the community safety and correctional services portfolio to the Tourism Ministry amid concerns about legal travails before he entered politics.

“I’m 10,000 per cent ... times confident with all our ministers and with our team,” Ford added.

Interim Liberal leader John Fraser said the premier made matters worse for his four-month-old government by not telling the truth about Wilson’s exit.

“As a result, we’re still talking about it today.”

Deputy NDP leader Sara Singh urged Ford to acknowledge an error.

“Will the premier admit this attempt to sweep this serious incident under the rug was a mistake, and going forward, will he commit to taking immediate and also transparent action when dealing with allegations of sexual misconduct?” she asked.

The same day Wilson departed, one of Ford’s key aides, executive director of issues and legislative affairs Andrew Kimber, also left without explanation. As the Star first reported last Thursday, Kimber is alleged to have sexted at least five female PC staffers, including pictures of him in a thong.

There was no official statement from the premier’s office about Kimber. Both he and Wilson are the subjects of an independent investigation.

Sources told the Star another senior staffer — John Sinclair, executive director of the Tory caucus bureau — left after being blamed by Ford for not acting sooner to flag inappropriate texts by Kimber. There has been no official explanation from the government and Sinclair has not commented.

Kimber issued an apology last week and pledged to “seek the help I need going forward.” Wilson has not replied to repeated requests for comment.

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Fraser said the government needs to give its staff and MPPs proper training on acceptable behaviour in the workplace.

Government House Leader Todd Smith, who replaced Wilson in the economic development portfolio, said that “it’s unfortunate these things occurred” and would not indicate whether there’s a path back into the party for Wilson if, for example, he is cleared in the investigation.

“We’ll cross those bridges when we get there.”

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