How Doug Ford is handling the Jim Wilson case the first scandal of his government

Thefirst real scandal of Doug Ford's new government broke with a terse news release that did not come close to revealing the full story.

"The Honourable Jim Wilson has resigned as Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation, and Trade, effective immediately," said a statement from Ford's director of media relations, emailed after 6 p.m. last Friday. "Mr. Wilson will also be resigning from the Progressive Conservative caucus to seek treatment for addiction issues."

• Jim Wilson left post after allegation of sexual misconduct
• Doug Ford shuffles cabinet in wake of Jim Wilson's abrupt resignation

The statement raised more questions than it answered.

Why would Wilson have to resignfrom caucus to deal with a health issue?It's understandable that a minister going into rehab would step down from cabinet. But leaving the PC caucus is another matter entirely. Wilson did not quit being an MPP, yet he gave up his political affiliation with a party he'd served for 28 years. It raised the question: why was Ford washing his hands of Wilson?

And what triggered Wilson's need to seek treatment? Numerous people at high levels in the PC party tell CBC that Wilson has struggled with alcohol for many years.He had appeared at an event with Ford only hours earlier. That suggested some sort of incident must have occurred. But Ford's office refused to say anything more.

'Like they are trying to cover something up'

This is what Ford did not reveal: Wilson's resignation was triggered when according tothree PC Party sourcesa staffer made an allegation against Wilson of sexually inappropriate behaviour.CBCNews has not confirmed whether the allegation is true and has been unable to reach Wilson for comment.

Ford's office has still not acknowledged that a complaintwas made against Wilson, or that an investigation has begun, even though cabinet minister Lisa MacLeodtold reporters this on Monday. She did not provide any details on the nature of the complaint.

The PCs extended the life of the controversy by failing to reveal immediately that an allegation had been made against Wilson, saidDavid Scott, vice-president of Broad Reach Communications, a Toronto firm specializing in public relations and crisis communications.

"That's a big critical piece of information that they chose to not share," Scott said in an interview. "From a communications point of view, they're making the issue worse.They look like they are trying to cover something up and they aren't being very respectful of the voters who put them in power."

Scott described the Ford government's approachto crisis communications as"completely amateurish" for leaving key questions unanswered when announcing Wilson's resignation.He said Wilson's departure from caucus "signalled there's a biggerstoryhere, and that led to a lot more media attention."

• Jim Wilson resigns to 'seek treatment for addiction issues'

Ford's spokespeople are not providing any more official information about the reasons for Wilson's departure, saying that their initial statement stands.

"Every action we've taken has been to protect the identity of any complainants who might have come forward," said an official in the premier's office, speaking on condition of anonymity.

But announcing that Wilson was facing an allegation would not require revealing the identity of the complainant, Scott said.

He said the Ford government should have beenup front that an allegation has been made, "demonstrating that they're takingappropriateaction and demonstrating to the potential victims that they're taking thesecomplaints seriously."

'The public deserves to know'

Governments and organizations are foolish to think they can control the message in a PR crisis by not talking to the media, said Scott.

"When an elected official at a cabinet level has these kinds of allegations made at them, and actions being taken by the government, the public deserves to know," he said. "It's a very important principle and it's one that I hope the government will learn from and not make the same mistake again."

NDPdeputy leader Sara Singhsaid Ford's initial statement about Wilson"tried to cover up" the allegationagainst him.

"Mr. Ford didn't tellOntariansthe truth about the departure of his most senior minister, and that's wrong," Singh said in a statement Tuesday. "It's time for Mr. Ford to come out of hiding and answer questions."

Ford is scheduled to take questions from reporters at an event in Trenton on Wednesday morning.

This is not the first time Ford orchestrated the departure of a PCMPPwhile failing toreveal the whole story.

In April, less than a month after Ford won the party leadership, KitchenerConestogaMPPMichael Harris announcedthat he was leaving politics to deal with a degenerative eye disease.

• PC party removes MPPMichael Harris from caucus

Ford did not contradict Harris for two days. Suddenly, after reporters began asking questions, the party announced that Harris was expelledfrom the PC caucus.

The party said the reason Harris had been booted was that he had sent text messages of a sexual nature to a former intern. What the party did not say was that the sextingincident had happened several years before and had already been investigated. Harris publicly apologized for his actions,but he was off Ford's slate of candidates.Harris has since been elected to Waterloo region council.

Kathleen Wynne and#MeToo

Kathleen Wynnehad her own #MeToo scandals, even before the hashtag was coined.

In response to questions from CBCNews in May 2016, Wynnerevealed that sexual harassment allegations had been made against two Liberal MPPsduring her time as premier. Initially, Wynnedeclined to name the MPPsor offer any further details, saying she wanted to protect the identity of the complainants.

• Wynne names former Liberal MPPshe asked to resign over harassment claims

"The people who brought complaints forward were not looking for a public process, they were looking for a confidential process. So I'm not at liberty to talk about those situations," Wynne said at the time.

Four days later, Wynne revealed that one of the MPPswas Kim Craitor, who resigned as the memberforNiagara Falls in 2013. He denied any wrongdoing. Wynnehas never identified the other MPP.