Liberal gas plant scandal another billion dollar boondoggle
NEWS RELEASE
Ted Arnott, MPP
Wellington-Halton Hills
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 8, 2013
Liberal gas plant scandal another billion dollar boondoggle
(Queen’s Park) – A special report by the Auditor General says the true cost of cancelling the
Oakville gas plant is $675 million, not $310 million as Ontarians were previously led to believe.
“This waste of money can only be described as outrageous,” said Wellington-Halton Hills MPP
Ted Arnott. “And the Liberals’ attempts to conceal the true cost can only be described as
devious.”
The Auditor General’s report also found that the $675 million estimate to cancel the Oakville gas
plant may actually rise by an additional $140 million.
All this is in addition to the $275 million the Liberals spent to cancel the Mississauga gas plant.
That means the total cost for the cancellation of the two gas plant cancellations will actually fall
between $950 million to $1.09 billion.
The Auditor General also revealed that had the Liberals just waited a few years, they might have
been able to get out of the contract to build the Oakville power plant without paying a cent.
“The Liberals made a conscious decision to put their own political survival ahead of the interest
of the people of Ontario,” Mr. Arnott said.
Mr. Arnott argued that Premier Wynne and the Liberal Government must be held accountable
for the scandal.
“Kathleen Wynne was a senior cabinet minister in the McGuinty Government. She was the co-
chair of the 2011 Liberal election campaign. She was Premier while the Liberals deliberately
understated the true cost of cancelling the gas plants,” Mr. Arnott pointed out. “She will not be
able to evade responsibility for her role in this scandalous waste of money.”
Mr. Arnott believes that the NDP also owe Ontarians an explanation after they have propped the
Government up for the past 2 years.
“The Liberals have completely lost the moral right to govern,” said Mr. Arnott. “They don’t
deserve to be in power for even another day.”
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Ted Arnott, MPP
Phone: 416-325-3880
Email: ted.arnott@pc.ola.org