Former Toronto police chief Julian Fantino has been named the new head of the Ontario Provincial Police.
Premier Dalton McGuinty made the announcement Thursday that Fantino will resign from his current post as the province's commissioner of emergency management to step into his new role.
He will begin as OPP commissioner on Oct. 30.
Fantino, who was born in Italy in 1942 and moved to Canada as a teenager, started his police career in Toronto in 1964 as a beat cop.
He has served as chief of police in York Region and London, Ont., but is best known for his time as Toronto's police chief from 2000 to 2005.
During that time, he presented himself as a tough, no-nonsense cop.
That approach was popular in some quarters, but critics didn't like his old school approach to hot button topics such as race and sexual orientation.
The veteran cop came under harsh criticism when he denied allegations that Toronto police racially profiled crime suspects.
His tenure was also marked by clashes with the city and Police Services Board over its growing budget and criminal investigations into former drug squad officers charged with beating and robbing suspects.
Fantino is currently serving as the province's commissioner of emergency management.
His name has surfaced over the years in political circles as a potential candidate for mayor of Toronto, member of the Ontario legislature and member of Parliament.
But friends and foes alike believe the veteran cop feels more comfortable on the streets than in the legislature.
Alan Heisey, a Toronto lawyer who sparred with Fantino while chairing the police services board, said the fact he went after this job instead of resting on his laurels in politics proves that.
"I used to tease him about running for mayor and he never bit," said Heisey. "He loves being a police officer."
Heisey remarked that the appointment of Fantino reflects that the former police chief's competence allows him to overcome his controversial past.
Boniface taking job in Ireland
The job was left vacant when Gwen Boniface took official leave from the force to take a temporary job in Ireland as part of a newly established panel to oversee the country's national police force.
Boniface was the first woman commissioner of the provincial police when she was appointed in 1998.
Her departure came amid criticism of the OPP's handling of the native occupation of a disputed site in Caledonia, Ont.
The force faced accusations of treating native protesters differently during the sometimes violent dispute and of failing to protect area residents from property damage.
Fantino's expected appointment comes days before a rally is set to take place in the town near Hamilton. Organized by a group from another community, Caledonia residents and native protesters alike fear it could reignite violence.
Organizers say it's meant to highlight preferential treatment of aboriginals by the provincial police.