Ontario Premier Doug Ford is tripling his efforts to appoint tough judges on crime issues. In this context, the government has moved to appoint two former employees of Ford's office to a committee that helps select judges for Canada's largest provinces by population and economic size.

"I won't just double (my efforts), I will triple them now," said the Premier of the Progressive Conservative Party yesterday during question period at the Ontario Legislature at Queen's Park in Toronto.

Ford added that he is keen to ensure that local communities in his province are "safe."

"We will triple our efforts to get judges who believe in putting someone in jail if they kick doors and point a gun at people's heads, terrifying children and scaring parents to the point that children no longer want to stay home," Ford said.

Ford's comments came days after the Toronto Star published that Matthew Bundy, a former deputy head of Ford's office, chairs the Judicial Appointments Advisory Committee, and that Brock Vandrick, a former stakeholder relations manager in Ford's office, is a member of this committee.

Attorney General Doug Downey is the one who appointed them

Ford said yesterday that he is "fed up and tired of judges allowing these people to be released on bail," after previously indicating that judges and justices of the peace are too lenient with criminals and allow bail releases more often than they should.

Ford said on Friday that his Progressive Conservative government was elected "to appoint like-minded people."

On Friday, Ford added that he would not appoint members from the Ontario Liberal Party nor from the Ontario New Democratic Party (NDP), the left-leaning party that forms the official opposition.

The committee, made up of three judges, three lawyers, and seven members of the public, reviews applications and conducts interviews with potential Ontario court judges, then sends a ranked list of recommendations to the Attorney General, who appoints someone from those.

During question period yesterday, New Democratic Party leader Marit Stiles criticized Attorney General Doug Downey for appointing two former Doug Ford office employees to the committee.

"I find this situation highly concerning... It is disgraceful," Stiles said at a press conference following question period.

Stiles added, "Judges need and want to remain neutral."

Earlier, the New Democratic Party spokesperson on Attorney General matters, MPP Kristen Wong-Tam, had said that the appointments raise serious concerns about the integrity of the judicial appointment process.

Liberal Party leader Bonnie Crombie had called last week on the Premier to cancel the appointments.