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QUEEN’S PARK — Vaughan Working Families, a shadowy group now under investigation by the RCMP for election law violations, has the same lawyer, Stephen Thiele, as Premier Doug Ford, which raises suspicions Doug Ford knows more about the group than he’s so far revealed.
Stephen Thiele, a firm partner with Doug Ford’s personal lawyer Gavin Tighe, has long been a friend of Doug Ford. Thiele even drew comics of the two of them together. The Globe and Mail reveals that Thiele is now Vaughan Working Families’ lawyer. In an interview, Thiele downplayed the RCMP investigation into Vaughan Working Families' attack ads against teachers and called the issue “minor.”
Thiele helped defend Doug Ford in a December 2020 case and wrote about defending Doug Ford on his law firm’s website in January 2021. In March 2018, Thiele served as Doug Ford’s campaign lawyer after Ford received fewer votes than Christine Elliott in the leadership race.
“Why do Doug Ford and Vaughan Working Families share the same lawyer?” asked NDP MPP Peter Tabuns. “It’s an unbelievably fishy coincidence that the only lawyer Vaughan Working Families could find to defend them in this RCMP investigation happens to also work for Ford.”
On Friday, the RCMP confirmed with the NDP they have launched an investigation into the Vaughan Working Families’ shadowy ads attacking teachers. Ford has, so far, refused to comment on the investigation.
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