TORONTO -- Changes to the way public appointments are made in Ontario will bring more transparency to the process, the province said Wednesday, months after a patronage scandal rocked Premier Doug Ford's government.

Treasury Board President Peter Bethlenfalvy said the changes, which come into effect on Friday, will include enhanced conflict of interest assessments and referral of some appointments to the integrity commissioner for review.

Bethlenfalvy said his ministry spent the last 100 days conducting a review of the process and come up with a new framework for appointments for all government ministries and agencies.

"It's more transparent. It's more skills-based," he said. "It reflects third-party input from the auditor general and the integrity commissioner."

The review was triggered by controversy over a number of appointments the Progressive Conservative government made earlier this year, when it first emerged that people close to the premier's chief of staff, Dean French, were given lucrative foreign postings. In the weeks after French's abrupt departure in June, more appointees came under scrutiny and resigned after their links to him were revealed.

Ford promised a more transparent appointment process and said both his office and the Treasury Board were conducting reviews.

The province said Wednesday the new process will clarify the appointment requirements and include a "12-month cooling off period" for special adviser appointments. More information about the knowledge and experience required to serve on agency boards will be added to public postings.

Candidates will also be required to fill out a new conflict of interest form that seeks information about potential conflicts and requires disclosure of personal and professional relationships.

Bethlenfalvy said the review conducted by his ministry will not be made public and the premier's office would not say if the findings of their review would be made public.

Ford's office also refused to say if any pending appointments were cancelled as a result of its review.

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said the results of all of the reviews must be released because the entire episode has shaken public trust in the government.

"So, an attempt to be transparent is not going to be transparent," she said. "(They're) pretending that it's going to be transparent while at the same time keeping under wraps the process that got them there?"

Horwath said the government must also respect the appointment vetting process at the Ontario legislature. In spite of its promise to make changes, the government approved 216 new appointees this week and denied the official opposition the right to vet over half of them before a committee, she said.

Green party Leader Mike Schreiner said the Tories should adopt a "merit-based" approach to all appointments and establish an all-party select committee to reform the process. The government must also release the findings of both of its reviews to clear the air on the patronage scandal, he added.

"This is exactly the problem with an internal, behind closed doors, process," he said. "How do we ensure public trust and that the review was done appropriately ... if the review and results aren't going to be public?"

This report by the Canadian Press was first published Oct. 30, 2019.