Julian Fantino Involved in Health Scandal Loses Staff

I never liked Julian Fantino. His tenure in his various positions was always controversial, and yet he kept climbing the ranks of the police force.

It helps to have friends in high places I guess and as a Mike Harris crony, he went to the top.

The wiretapping of a Toronto woman was only the tip of the iceberg. Witch hunts on the gay community and racial profiling. His name kept popping up.

Now he's in trouble over $10 million in health care money.

Two Conservatives have quit their own riding association in Vaughan north of Toronto, accusing incumbent candidate Julian Fantino and the Conservative government of handing $10 million in public dollars to a private non-profit group involved in a major health-care development.

Richard Lorello, the local Conservative candidate in 2008, says he resigned because a federal grant, announced in March just before the election was called, is earmarked for the Vaughan Health Campus of Care (VHCC), which has two of Fantino's fundraisers as prime backers.

"The optics look really rather strange," said Lorello, "that the same people who helped Fantino are the same people [whose non-profit group is] receiving $10 million in government funds."

Strange optics indeed.