Ontario's Progressive Conservative government is now interviewing candidates to sit on the Ottawa Police Services Board, Solicitor General Sylvia Jones said Friday.

Only three of the board's seven spots are filled, and there are no provincially-appointed members after three resigned en masse hours after QP Briefing reported one attended the "Freedom Convoy" protests in Ottawa.

None of Ottawa's police board's members predate the occupation of Ottawa. All non-provincially appointed members were either voted off the board or resigned about three weeks into the protests, after Ottawa's police chief, Peter Sloly, quit.

Between Sloly quitting and the four other members exiting the board, Matt Torigian was hired as the city's new police chief. Torigian withdrew from the position two days in after it was reported the board bypassed a competitive hiring process to hire him, which was the same controversy that forced the three city councillors and the city's chosen citizen member from the board.

It's local police services boards' responsibility to hire police chiefs.

The next Ottawa Police Services Board meeting is scheduled to take place on March 28, just over six weeks after Sloly quit. Steve Bell, a 25-year veteran of the Ottawa police, and its deputy chief since 2016, has acted as interim chief since the Torigian fiasco.

The solicitor general said she couldn't guarantee when the province would fill the seats it's responsible for on Ottawa's police board.

"There is a quite an in-depth process ... I can assure you that interviews have taken place," Jones said. "But the other pieces — including the police record check, including the opportunity for them to appear before an all-party committee — have yet to happen, so I cannot give you a deadline."

In further explaining how the province would find new members for Ottawa's police board, Jones said candidates are chosen from applicants who apply to the Public Appointments Secretariat's online portal. The appointments secretariat oversees government appointments to agencies, boards and other organizations.

After finding applicants it's interested in, the government conducts "a very onerous interview process," Jones said.

The solicitor general has faced a barrage of criticism from opposition MPPs in question period since its three appointees to Ottawa's board stepped down.

Over the last week and a half, she's repeatedly said in response that the government intends to soon appoint new board members following the proper process.

Jones also noted that Bell has done an "excellent" job leading Ottawa's police force, and gave him partial credit — along with OPP and RCMP commissioners Thomas Carrique and Brenda Lucki, respectively — for the successful operation to clear downtown Ottawa of protesters two-and-a-half weeks ago.

QP Briefing also asked Jones if she knew of any PC MPPs who recommended the appointment of Robert Swaita, the former Ottawa police board member who attended the protests.

Other sources well-versed in the process governments use to appoint police board members conclusively said local MPPs often have sway in who's named to a board. Premier Doug Ford said on March 3 he would figure out which Ottawa-area MPP suggested Swaita's appointment.

There are three Progressive Conservative MPPs who hold seats in Ottawa: cabinet ministers Lisa MacLeod (Nepean) and Merrilee Fullerton (Kanata–Carleton), and Jeremy Roberts (Ottawa West—Nepean). PC MPP Goldie Ghamari's Carleton riding is also just outside of Ottawa. MacLeod and Fullerton have both said they didn't recommend Swaita.

The solicitor general spoke with QP Briefing in Shelburne (which is about an hour-and-a-half drive northwest of Toronto) on Friday. Jones was in Shelburne to announce that the government would put more than $4 million over the next two years to add mental health and addictions specialists to Mobile Crisis Response Teams (which respond to 9-1-1 calls for people having a mental health or addiction issue) in 28 communities.

Candidates are interviewing to replace ousted Ottawa police board members: solicitor general

Read this for free.