Long-standing feud in Midland turns political
A long-standing feud between former members of the Midland Police Service and the town's police service's board has resurfaced less than three weeks before the municipal election.
The feud involves former Midland Police union leader Bill Gordon, who now has his sights set on becoming mayor.
"There's no other way to see it other than a smear campaign," Gordon said.
"I felt that I'm clearly being targeted," he added. "It's been a multiyear vendetta at my own expense, and now just as we thought everything was over, they've resurrected these things in the last two weeks of the election, and that's a head-scratcher I think anybody can see through."
The mayoral hopeful is referring to a press release issued by the police services board through the Town of Midland accusing Gordon of spreading false and misleading information.
In 2019, when the Midland Police Service disbanded to transition to the OPP, town officials claimed Gordon and former police chief Michael Osborne destroyed encrypted police hard drives.
"There seemed to be a high level of anxiety to get that stuff destroyed," said George Dixon, Midland Police Services board chair.
However, the OPP has said it received all the necessary records, and no charges were laid.
Regardless, Dixon remains convinced Gordon and Osborne did not follow the town's direction when Gordon disposed of old hard drives.
"Neither Mr. Gordon nor Mr. Osborne owned those hard drives they took to get destroyed," Dixon said.
Still, Dixon has no proof anything was lost or destroyed from the confidential collection of Midland police data.
Paul Hamelin is a former Midland police chief and police data security expert and spent decades preserving and protecting confidential operational police information.
"Disclosing personal information that relates to law enforcement is clearly within the purview of the chief of police. Section 41 of the Police Services Act stipulates that the chief will be the one deciding what will be released," he said, adding the town had no business having those documents.
"Go to any serving police service, any serving police chief in the province of Ontario, that would include the commissioner of the OPP, [and] ask them a simple question, 'If you were asked by your municipal council to have unfettered access to your police operational data would you give it to them?' And I'm sure the answer would be no," Hamelin concluded.
On Thursday, the OPP confirmed to CTV News it found no grounds to lay criminal charges in the matter.
CTV News reached out to Mayor Stewart Strathern and was told he was unavailable for comment.
Gordon is on the ballot for mayor against incumbent Strathern, Jonathan Main, and Ute Schmid-Jones. The municipal election is on Oct. 24.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Honda to get up to $5B in govt help for EV battery, assembly plants
Honda is set to build an electric vehicle battery plant next to its Alliston, Ont., assembly plant, which it is retooling to produce fully electric vehicles, all part of a $15-billion project that is expected to include up to $5 billion in public money.
BREAKING New York appeals court overturns Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction from landmark #MeToo trial
New York’s highest court on Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction, finding the judge at the landmark #MeToo trial prejudiced the ex-movie mogul with improper rulings, including a decision to let women testify about allegations that weren’t part of the case.
Residents of northern Alberta First Nation told to shelter in place
Residents of John D'Or Prairie, a community on the Little Red River Cree Nation in northern Alberta, were told to take shelter Thursday morning during a police operation.
Secret $70M Lotto Max winners break their silence
During a special winner celebration near their hometown, Doug and Enid shared the story of how they discovered they were holding a Lotto Max ticket worth $70 million and how they kept this huge secret for so long.
Remains from a mother-daughter cold case were found nearly 24 years later, after a deathbed confession from the suspect
A West Virginia father is getting some sense of closure after authorities found the remains of his young daughter and her mother following a deathbed confession from the man believed to have fatally shot them nearly two decades ago.
Monthly earnings rise, payroll employment falls: jobs report
The number of vacant jobs in Canada increased in February, while monthly payroll employment decreased in food services, manufacturing, and retail trade, among other sectors.
First in Canada procedure performed at London, Ont. hospital
A London man has become the first person in Canada to receive a robotic assisted surgery on his spine. Dave Myeh suffered from debilitating, chronic back pain that led to sciatica in his right now and extreme pain in his lower back.
Doctors say capital gains tax changes will jeopardize their retirement. Is that true?
The Canadian Medical Association asserts the Liberals' proposed changes to capital gains taxation will put doctors' retirement savings in jeopardy, but some financial experts insist incorporated professionals are not as doomed as they say they are.
Something in the water? Canadian family latest to spot elusive 'Loch Ness Monster'
For centuries, people have wondered what, if anything, might be lurking beneath the surface of Loch Ness in Scotland. When Canadian couple Parry Malm and Shannon Wiseman visited the Scottish highlands earlier this month with their two children, they didn’t expect to become part of the mystery.