Ontario Premier Doug Ford and his former solicitor have been summoned to appear as witnesses at the Emergencies Act inquiry. Commission lawyers said they'd had been asked to testify but refused, apparently contradicting a claim the premier made publicly.
PublishedHealth Minister Sylvia Jones chats with Premier Ford during the throne speech on Aug. 9.
"I have not been asked," Ford said on Oct. 17 when asked at a press conference why he wasn't scheduled to testify.Commission lawyers Shantona Chaudhury and Jeffrey S. Leon wrote to lawyers representing three groups that have standing at the commission — the Ottawa Coalition of Residents and Businesses, the Canadian Constitution Foundation and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association — on Monday. The groups asked the commission to call Ford and Jones to appear.
A government source said the premier had not been asked to testify publicly — only to give the commission a private interview — when he spoke on Oct. 17. "We believe that questions about Ontario’s institutional response will be sufficiently addressed by the testimony from the two senior officials already selected by the commission," he wrote."Overall, our view has always been that this was a policing matter and the police witnesses that are testifying can best provide the commission with the evidence it needs."'s questions about the premier's claim he had not been asked to testify.