Controversy over Kara Ford pay raise highlights risks of perceived nepotism

When the daughter of Ontario's premier gets a 33.9-per-cent pay bump in a single year, people notice – and they talk. The uproar over Kara Ford’s role at Runnymede Healthcare Centre shows how fast hiring a family member or friend can become a reputational risk.

Revealed in the latest "Sunshine List" from the provincial government, Kara Ford’s salary rose from $157,884 to $211,468 in one year for the same director role – up $83,416 from 2022 when she was a manager at the same company.

The reaction online has been scathing, with one Reddit commenter writing they have no issues with family connections opening doors "but the bare minimum is that you should at least be qualified for the position.”

Another observed that such a high-level role “would usually have someone with at minimum a Master’s degree, but more preferably a PhD.” 

While Kara Ford's educational level has not been explicitly confirmed, it has been reported that she studied broadcast television at Conestoga College in Kitchener, Ont., which has a two-year diploma program.

Family hiring: new to the spotlight

However, as Moshe Lander, senior economics lecturer at Concordia University, explains, family hiring is harder to avoid than many may realize. Advantage builds over years, he says, as parents who have navigated elite professions will often “train” their children for those same roles – essentially, a years-long preparation course.

And, he adds, it’s only been in relatively recent years and due to more visible economic inequality that the practice of nepotism has taken on an unattractive glare.

“Up until the Industrial Revolution, there was a very good chance you were the child of somebody who was doing the profession that you ended up doing yourself,” Lander says.

“I mean, it's Easter weekend. Jesus was a carpenter. Why was he a carpenter? Because his dad was a carpenter. Will we say that Jesus was a product of nepotism? Or would we just say, ‘Well, that just makes sense that you're naturally going to do what your dad does'?"

Why nepotism is hard to avoid

Regardless of the reasons, coaching children on “the right credentials” does create a head start that can be hard for outsiders to match, Lander admits – long before résumés are submitted or interviews scheduled; “Once they get into that room, they’re going to be at a market advantage, regardless of what goes on inside that room.”

For HR, that makes it essential to distinguish between unfair preferential treatment and the reality that some candidates genuinely arrive better prepared. And if it’s because of family background, Lander stresses, that doesn’t discount the qualification.

“You start to create this situation where it's really hard to escape nepotism or the appearance of nepotism,” he says.

“If somebody goes into the profession of their parents, how can you say it's not because of what mom and mom, dad and dad, mom and dad did? So, even if there's no string-pulling, it's very, very difficult to put in protocols or legislation or recusals that are going to negate that predetermined advantage.”

Transparency and clear process

With that reality in mind, the practical question is how to manage risk and perception when family members or friends are in the mix. For Lander, it’s a simple matter of fairness and genuinely hiring the most qualified person for the job; there is “clearly a line” between a qualified and unqualified candidate, and the latter is “clearly a problem.”

There is a gray area where preparation, proximity and privilege converge – according to Lander, these are precisely the cases where unclear documentation or silence from leadership can do as much damage as the hire itself.

“As always, transparency is probably the most important part of the process here,” Lander says.

“If you’re going to hire somebody that is related to a key person within the organization, be transparent about it and identify what it was that they had that made them the most qualified.”

In academia, he notes, hiring committees circulate CVs “so everybody sees the same information.”

However, even well‑designed processes will not fully erase perceptions of nepotism, he says, as insiders can still infer identities from a specific education or skill set and may decide, “I know what’s going on here.”

Kara Ford with her 2-year broadcast television diploma from Conestoga College that she completed in 2018 now earns $211K, annual wages that surpass what most 30-y-o physicians in Ontario make.

How many lives has she saved at Runnymede Hospital? https://t.co/pnBbMJFYsh

— deBeauxOs (@deBeauxOs1) April 1, 2026

Law, optics and stakeholder pressure

From an employment law perspective, Lander notes that proving discrimination or wrongful non‑hiring in these cases is difficult. Unless there’s “a smoking gun,” he says, proving that someone told someone to hire a family member or close friend for an untoward reason: “It’s really hard to show that discrimination is anything more than just either coincidence or a legitimate decision.”

Even if a family member is hired because they are the best strategic or cultural fit, “there’s nothing illegal about that,” says Lander, even if it's because they’re the child of the owner or a senior leader.

The distinction between legal exposure and reputational exposure is critical – many controversial family hires may be lawful, yet still deeply unpopular with employees, customers (or voters). That, Lander says, leaves much of the practical accountability for nepotism risks in the hands of owners and stakeholders.

“Shareholders decide on who’s management, who makes the decisions, what policies the company uses,” he says.

“If the shareholders feel that there’s something untoward or irresponsible, if they feel that they’re constantly being sued because of wrongful hiring decisions, then shareholders will say, 'This is wrong’. Transparency, then, is key.”

Avoiding ‘nepo baby’ claims: communication and accountability

While the Ford-Sunshine List controversy in Ontario is unlikely to be the last high‑profile “nepo baby” story, Lander cautions employers that debates over fairness and equality of opportunity can’t be solved by a single protocol or policy.

Instead, he urges structured processes where possible, including blind CV screening, clear selection criteria, and a willingness to explain, at least to boards, employees or oversight bodies, why the chosen candidate – including a relative or close friend – ranked ahead of others on the shortlist.

“You're never going to be able to restrict who a private company can or can't hire, so I think the best thing is to at least just be transparent about it,” Lander says.

“But I think it's a lot more on a case-to-case basis, than some overarching protocol that you put in place.”