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The Ontario Liberals promised a “scandal involving 16 Ford Conservative candidates” would be revealed on Sunday.
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Anyone who bothered to tune in for the hyped news conference quickly turned back to pondering the beautiful spring weather outside.
Standing in front of props made to look like a model train and plastic buckets labeled “Doug Ford’s Gravy Train,” veteran Liberal MP Mitzie Hunter had the task of embarrassing herself for her party.
The “scandal” was that Ford had appointed candidates who did not win with political appointments, the kinds of appointments all governments must make and that all government fill with people who share the same vision as the government.
The more embarrassing point was that the Liberals included people appointed to sit on boards where they are granted a per diem of $150 to attend board meetings three to four times per year.
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I doubt many would consider getting $600 to attend four all-day meetings per year, often in a different city, to be the gravy train, but it shows the Liberals getting desperate.
They also included on the list of gravy train appointees, those who took jobs as political staffers, including the chief of staff to a minister. Those jobs can pay well, but the hours are long and the pay is earned.
Governments should be called out for appointing unqualified friends to overpaid positions. The Liberals wanted you to believe that’s what these appointments were, but despite their hype and props, the truth was plain to see.