Government seeking to avoid all responsibility for gas plant decisions
NEWS RELEASE
Ted Arnott, MPP
Wellington-Halton Hills
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 9, 2014
Wynne Government seeking to avoid all responsibility for
gas plant decisions
(Queen’s Park) – The Liberal Government needs to stop dodging responsibility for its decisions to
cancel the Oakville and Mississauga gas plants and be accountable for its actions, says Wellington-
Halton Hills MPP Ted Arnott.
In questions to Premier Kathleen Wynne during Question Period on April 8, Mr. Arnott asked the
Premier when she was going to accept some of the responsibility for the scandal.
“The Government would also want us to overlook the fact that the day the Member for Don Valley
West (Ms. Wynne) was elected Leader of the Liberal Party in January 2013, she became the
incoming Premier,” Mr. Arnott pointed out.
“As incoming Premier, the power and authority and trust inherent in that high office immediately
began to shift to her. She can hardly claim she has no responsibility for the transition period, while
blaming everything on her predecessor whose leadership she was proud to endorse through three
provincial elections,” he continued.
“How in good conscience can she continue to blame all this on Dalton McGuinty?” Mr. Arnott asked.
Late last month, the Toronto Star broke the story that former Premier Dalton McGuinty’s Chief of
Staff may be facing criminal charges for breach of trust after he allegedly brought in an outside
expert to delete internal Government emails relating to the cancellation of the Oakville and
Mississauga gas plants in late January to early February 2013.
This period coincided with the transition of power in the Premier’s office from Dalton McGuinty to
Kathleen Wynne.
“By threatening a law suit against our Leader and our Party, Premier Wynne hopes to make this
whole thing go away,” Mr. Arnott said afterwards. “But the Auditor General confirmed that $1.1
billion was wasted, the police are investigating, and there may have been a systematic cover up.
This is not going away.”
“The Premier also seems to have forgotten that the role of the official opposition is to hold the
Government of the day accountable for its actions. We will continue to do our job in opposition,” Mr.
Arnott concluded.
(Attached: Hansard record of Mr. Arnott’s questions to the Premier in the Ontario Legislature, April
8, 2014)
– 30 –
Ted Arnott, MPP
Phone: 416-325-3880
Email: ted.arnott@pc.ola.org
Ontario Hansard – 08-April 2014
POWER PLANTS
Mr. Ted Arnott: My question is for the Premier. People of Wellington-Halton Hills who are closely
watching what’s happening in this Legislature no doubt were startled to read, in the Toronto Star on
March 28, no less than eight pages on the gas plant scandal, including a bombshell allegation that the
former Premier’s chief of staff might face criminal charges for arranging the deletion of internal
government emails relating to the cancellation of the Oakville and Mississauga gas plants.
The Toronto Star reported that an outside person was given access to 24 computers in the Premier’s office
during the transition between the McGuinty and Wynne Liberal governments, just over one year ago. This
is what was in the Toronto Star.
With all that has happened on this file and the recent Toronto Star disclosures, how on earth does the
Premier expect the people of Ontario to give her the benefit of the doubt?
Interjections.
The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Be seated, please. Thank you.
Premier?
Hon. Kathleen O. Wynne: The government House leader.
Hon. John Milloy: I appreciate the fact that the honourable member was quoting from the media. I’d like
to just remind him what the media reviews have been about the performance of his party and, in
particular, his leader on this file.
From the Toronto Star, the publication that he quoted: The Leader of the Opposition “went far beyond
what the facts show”-April 1, 2014. Another quote from the same date: The Leader of the Opposition is
“inventing fanciful scenarios about the first days of Wynne’s premiership.”
Ottawa Citizen, April 1: The PCs “asked repeatedly whether Wynne’s computer was among those wiped,
which makes little sense: the police are crystal clear that they’re interested in computers in McGuinty’s
office, where Wynne did not work.”
A Globe and Mail editorial, April 1, 2014: “Ontario Progressive Conservative leader Tim Hudak is on
thin legal ice.” A Globe and Mail editorial, April 1: The Leader of the Opposition claimed “that Premier
Wynne was personally behind any wiping of government computers”-
The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Thank you. Supplementary?
Mr. Ted Arnott: Back to the Premier: The government is quick to point out that the possible criminal
breach of trust took place before the member for Don Valley West was sworn in as Premier. By taking
this approach, they throw their former leader, Mr. McGuinty, unceremoniously under the proverbial bus. The government would also want us to overlook the fact that the day that the member for Don Valley
West was elected leader of the Liberal Party, in January 2013, she became the incoming Premier. As
incoming Premier, the power and authority and trust inherent in that high office immediately began to
shift to her. She can hardly claim that she has no responsibility for the transition period while blaming
everything on the predecessor whose leadership she was proud to endorse through three provincial
elections. How in good conscience can she continue to blame all this on Dalton McGuinty?
Hon. John Milloy: We had the OPP appear in front of the committee, and they told us two things. First of
all, this is directed towards the former Premier’s chief of staff. The second is that MPPs should stay out of
this police investigation.
As I said yesterday, I am pleased with and proud of the fact that the Premier is seeking legal advice in this
matter. We look to the opposition to apologize and retract their statements. As I said, their critic, the
member from Nepean-Carleton, has experience in it. I quoted yesterday from this news release on January
31 from the member from Nepean-Carleton, who said she was sorry for the negative perception that may
have been created in terms of her allegations against Maureen Murphy-Makin or Rick Morgan “for
wrongfully implicating them in an erroneous story in January 2004 revolving around the decision by
former PC leader Peter MacKay not to seek the leadership of the new Conservative Party of Canada.” She
apologized then-
The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Thank you. New question.