The premier's office has confirmed the PC party will pay Doug Ford's legal fees in the $5 million lawsuit against him by former OPP Deputy Commissioner Brad Blair.
Spokesperson Simon Jefferies confirmed who would pay after Government House leader Todd Smith was asked about the fees earlier on Thursday.
Blair is suing the premier for defamation regarding public comments he made saying Blair had broken the Police Services Act in numerous ways.
Blair went public with concerns about how Ron Taverner was given the job as OPP commissioner, which eventually went to Thomas Carrique after Taverner withdrew his name from consideration.
For example, in a January interview with Global News, Ford said, "I'm thoroughly disappointed with Brad Blair, the way he's been going on, breaking the Police Act numerous times, it's disturbing to say the least."
Blair had asked the courts to force the provincial ombudsman to investigate Taverner's appointment, raising concerns about political interference.
Blair was also one of the candidates who applied for the position but didn't get it, and was also fired from the force earlier this month.
While the integrity commissioner had concerns about the overall hiring process of the job, he ruled that Ford didn't break any rules and stayed at arms length of the process.
Blair's lawyer Julian Falconer says in the lawsuit that Blair never received a notice of a complaint under the Act, let alone any findings that he violated it.
Blair's legal team had warned of a lawsuit if the premier did not retract his comments, saying it could lead an average person to believe he had broken the law.
Interim Liberal Leader John Fraser said there are circumstances where politicians should be protected, but this is not one of those cases because Ford's comments were unnecessary and not made in the Legislature.
"There was no need for this to happen," he said. "What the premier was saying weren't inside there, they were out in the hallway and they were intemperate."
"It's hard for taxpayers to say that's okay."
With files from the Canadian Press