Ontario’s solicitor general has broken his silence on the arrest of seven serving Toronto police officers, weeks after the results of a massive anti-corruption probe were released.

Dubbed Project South, a York Regional Police investigation into organized crime led to the arrest of seven Toronto police officers, spreading to Peel Region, where three officers were suspended.

Claims against the Toronto cops related to alleged corruption, leaking information to an organized crime group and bribery. The charges have not been proven in court.

The bust was announced at a news conference on Feb. 5 and drew comments from both Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow, who said her police chief would have to “earn” trust back.

In the wake of the arrests, Global News requested an interview with Solicitor General Michael Kerzner. His office declined.

Now, more than a month later, Kerzner has addressed the arrests — suggesting he had been available to comment earlier.

“People have said that I haven’t been available to answer any questions. In fact, it is not so,” Kerzner told reporters.

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“I’ve been before the media (at) two news conferences after the synagogue shootings in the past two weeks. Nobody asked me a question about that.”

Global News asked Kerzner’s office to share the copies of the media advisories that had informed reporters the solicitor general would be available to comment. His staff did not respond ahead of publication.

On the charges against seven serving Toronto officers, Kerzner had little to say.

“This is being investigated by a number of police services,” he told reporters.

“And, also, the inspector general is doing his investigation. So this is going forward. We’re going to wait to see what comes out. We take this matter as a provincial government very seriously.”

At the centre of the Project South investigation was an alleged plot to murder a man working at an Ontario correctional institution.

Police said the investigation began in June 2025 when investigators alleged the conspiracy to murder the correctional officer unfolded.

Hogan said over a 36-hour period, several suspects went to the man’s home in York Region, at least three times, “we allege for the purpose of murdering him.” He said video surveillance shows masked and armed suspects went to the home, and at one point, rammed a police cruiser that was in the driveway.

He said the investigation uncovered serious allegations of criminal corruption among the charged Toronto police officers.

At an unrelated news conference on Monday, Ford said he wanted to see those who target correctional officers harshly punished.

“If you want to attack one of our correctional services officers or police, you’re going to pay a real penalty — a real, real penalty,” he said.

“These guys who go after our officers deserve to sit in a hole for, God knows, three years. Maybe the message will get out. How dare you try to go after one of our correctional service officers? I’ll have zero tolerance.”

Kerzner made similar comments.

“I want to echo the premier’s remarks on standing with our correctional officers,” he said. “These are people that work hard every single day, and as solicitor general, I’ve travelled the province extensively and I’ve visited our facilities.”

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