Recently-appointed PC Government House Leader Paul Calandra spoke bluntly about the recent patronage scandal swirling around his party Wednesday, while adding public trust will be regained.
"The last couple days I don't think have made any Progressive Conservative member of provincial parliament who has worked so hard over the last year happy," he said. "I'm confident that not only will we regain the trust of the people of Ontario, but they'll look back and they'll say they are better off."
Calandra was appointed House Leader last week in Premier Doug Ford's massive cabinet shuffle, but since then, his former chief of staff Dean French has made headlines over patronage appointments and his departure on Friday.
Two of four trade appointments on Thursday were rescinded for family connections to French, prompting his exit from the premier's office.
Then Tuesday, Kate Pal of the Public Accountants Council resigned after it was revealed she was a niece of French's as well, reportedly sending Premier Doug Ford into an uproar over the revelation.
Now a government review is underway of all pending government appointments, although Calandra said there is no set timetable on when results are expected.
"If there is something that needs to come back to the people, we will say it, we will share," Calandra said, adding he wishes the scandal wasn't going on.
"I would rather always focus on jobs and economic growth than what I've heard over the last couple of days, it certainly disappointed me and I'm not going to tell you otherwise."
But on Wednesday, the opposition called for additional measures, with the NDP pushing for the Standing Committee on Government Agencies to reconvene, while the Liberals want the Integrity Commissioner involved.
Calandra didn't oppose either idea, saying the standing committee's chair and vice-chair are NDP members.
"If the integrity commissioner wants to take a look, we're not going to, (sic) it's up to the integrity commissioner to do what they like," he said.
Earlier in the day, the chair of the accounting council Pal sat on, Gavin Tighe - a lawyer to Ford and French - defended the now departed member on NEWSTALK1010's Moore in the Morning.
"A remarkably qualified individual frankly," he said of Pal. "To be perfectly blunt, it's difficult to find members."
Calandra echoed the sentiment, saying there are many decent and hardworking appointees who are doing excellent work.
"We're just going to redouble our efforts to make sure that is the case," he said.
The story has also brought surprise to people who have nothing to do with it, such as Catherine Pal of CPal Consultants.
On the government appointments website, the bio for the now departed Kate Pal of Pal Insurance, is actually that of Catherine's.
"I'm as surprised as you," she told NEWSTALK1010 in an email. "I've never seen that before."
When asked how the wrong bio was put on the government site, the premier's office referred to its broader statement Tuesday about the appointment review.
"If the Premier finds that people have been appointed for the wrong reason or are not performing to the highest standards those individuals will be removed from their positions," the statement said.
However, some other possible conflicts have already come to light, with the Globe and Mail reporting the chair of the Justice of the Peace Appointments Advisory Committee is also a friend of French's.
The paper also found the appointee was found to have engaged in professional misconduct by the Law Society of Ontario in 2012.
When asked how much French's departure could help the party move forward, Calandra said he's grateful for the work that he did.
"But now it's time to move on, it's a different phase, it's about implementing an agenda," Calandra said. "And that is so much different than putting in place the vision."