Ontario's highest-ranking police officer is wasting public money by pressing on with his fight to have an adjudicator he accuses of bias ousted from a murky disciplinary hearing, the provincial legislature heard Thursday.
It's the second time the Liberal government has come under fire over Julian Fantino's legal battle with the retired judge.
New Democrat Peter Kormos called on the government, which appointed Fantino as commissioner of Ontario Provincial Police, to put an end to the spending.
"How much more public money will OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino be allowed to burn through in his pathetic attempt to oust the adjudicator at his embarrassing disciplinary hearing?" Kormos asked Community Safety Minister Rick Bartolucci.
"It's the taxpayers who are picking up the tab."
Bartolucci refused to respond to the question on the grounds the matter is before the courts.
"It would be would be very, very inappropriate for me to interject myself in those proceedings," he told the legislature.
Despite losing two Divisional Court battles for force the adjudicator, retired judge Leonard Montgomery, to step down, Fantino's lawyer said this week he plans to pursue the matter to the province's top court.
Montgomery, whom Fantino appointed, has been hearing a case against two senior provincial police officers charged by the commissioner with misconduct.
However, the case has increasingly focused on Fantino himself, with the two officers' lawyer accusing him of mounting a politically motivated and vindictive campaign against them.
Fantino was in the midst of a tough cross-examination last fall when his lawyer accused Montgomery of bias and asked him to step down. Montgomery refused, and two court decisions have backed him.
Kormos said Fantino had three law firms on retainer being paid "exorbitant fees" at the expense of Ontario taxpayers.
"Why doesn't this minister just tell Fantino to get on with finishing his cross-examination so that we can be spared further mockery of the justice system on the public's dime?" Kormos asked.
Bartolucci again refused to bite.
Fantino's lawyer Tom Curry denied tax dollars are being squandered, saying the issue is an important one and in the public interest to have resolved.
Attorney General Chris Bentley and his ministry were quick to issue denials in November after Fantino's lawyer at the time, Brian Gover, said they backed his request to have Montgomery step down and would support a legal battle to force him to do so.
Despite the government's denials, Gover stood by his comments.
Montgomery was highly critical of any political interference in the quasi-judicial hearing.
