Liberals have put their party ahead of the good people of this province.

QUEEN’S PARK –Ontario PC’s continue to cooperate with the OPP’s investigation into the government, while Kathleen Wynne avoids taking responsibility, said Cambridge PC MPP Rob Leone.

The documents handed over include evidence that:“We continue to cooperate with the OPP,” Leone said. “To that end, we’re handing over new documents that may aid their ongoing investigation.”

• Liberals knew about the existence of an “Enterprise Vault” housing supposedly-deleted emails, but did not disclose this to the Information and Privacy Commissioner.Government IT officials produced an easy method for searching documents that Liberal staffers ignored.
• Political benefits of proroguing the legislature were paramount for the Liberals.  They chose running and hiding over openness and transparency.
• The Liberal Party knew the real cost of cancellation would be much, much higher than publicly disclosed.
• Staffers were ordered to delete emails.
• Liberals acknowledged the risk of a “paper trail.”

Yet, as new facts emerge, Kathleen Wynne is nowhere to be seen.Of course, this is all in addition to the shocking revelations that senior Liberals attempted to influence the Speaker’s judgment on an issue of contempt.

“This government is mired in scandal and the subject of a policeinvestigation,” Leone continued. “So, has the Premier denounced this attempt to hijack the democratic process? Has she distanced herself from the actions of senior Liberals? No. She has dropped from sight since these new details emerged.”

“This province deserves better leadership than Kathleen Wynne. At every opportunity, the Liberals have put their party ahead of the good people of this province. That’s why it’s time for voters in five ridings to send a message. It’s time to show Kathleen Wynne and her NDP-Liberal coalition that enough is enough.”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 11, 2013

LIBERALS FAIL TO RECOGNIZE SEVERITY OF GAS PLANT SCANDAL

QUEEN’S PARK – From hiding documents, to using code words, the McGuinty-Wynne Liberals have failed to recognize or acknowledge the seriousness wasting hundreds of millions of dollars to save five Liberal seats and the only way to get the truth is to have a judicial inquiry, PC MPP Rob Leone said today.

“For the past five months, the McGuinty-Wynne Liberals have behaved like it is inconvenient to be accountable to taxpayers,” said Leone. “With an overwhelming amount of missing or redacted documents, as confirmed by Premier Wynne, it is evident that we cannot trust the McGuinty-Wynne Liberals to get to the bottom of this scandal.”

Leone made the comments pointing to the fact that on three occasions the Government has had to admit that they had not provided all the documents to the Legislature. “Their pattern of three separate document dumps signifies a pattern of political interference.

“The 56,000 documents that have already been released only represent a small portion of the documents relating to the Liberals politically-motivated decision to cancel the gas plants,” continued Leone. “Having already seen three document dumps, I am confident that there will be more. It is clear that the McGuinty-Wynne Liberals are not taking this seriously. If we are ever going to get to the bottom of this scandal, it will not be with them at the helm.

“Ontario taxpayers deserve the truth, free from any political interference, about the hundreds of millions of dollars to save five Liberal seats in the 2011 election,” Leone concluded.

“Because we know the Liberals will fight tooth and nail to hide the truth, it will be up to the next government to get to the bottom of this Liberal scandal. And the only way to the truth is a judicial inquiry.”

Contact: Christine Bujold | (416) 325-1330 | christine.bujold@pc.ola.org

“I know there has been a lot of debate about whether the 36,000 documents are all of the documents. I think the fact, as the government House leader said, that there are two letters of attestation, from Colin Andersen and from the Minister of Energy, should stand as making it clear that all of the documents that have been released.”

– Kathleen Wynne, September 25th, 2012

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 19, 2013

ONTARIANS DESERVE THE TRUTH – PCs TO MOVE ON CONTEMPT MOTIONS

QUEEN’S PARK – Four months ago the McGuinty-Wynne Liberals shut down the Legislature in an effort to avoid accountability and stop the investigation into the politically motivated decision to cancel the Mississauga and Oakville gas plants, PC MPPs Rob Leone and Todd Smith said today.

“The McGuinty-Wynne Liberals were so desperate to hide the full cost of cancelling the Mississauga and Oakville power plants, that they were willing to obstruct MPPs from doing their jobs on behalf of outraged Ontario taxpayers,” said Leone. “Ontarians deserve to know who is responsible for the $1 billion that was wasted to save 5 Liberal seats in the 2011 election.”

Leone made the comments while stating that he will ask the Speaker to re-introduce a motion that will have a Legislative committee report on whether the McGuinty-Wynne government should be held in contempt for refusing to release all documents relating to the cancelled gas plants.

“This is not only about the $1 billion wasted by this government, but also about the level of political interference by the McGuinty-Wynne Liberals,” Smith added.

“On numerous occasions between September 25^th and October 1^st, 2012, Liberal MPPs, including Premier Kathleen Wynne, stood up in the Legislature and said that all documents had been provided – only to find out on October 12^th that the Liberals left out 20,000 additional documents,” continued Smith.

“It is becoming increasingly clear that MPPs have been obstructed from obtaining the truth about the gas plant cancellations. I intend to raise this issue with the Speaker and ensure that Ontarians find out who ordered the cover-up and what else the McGuinty-Wynne Liberals are hiding from them.”

Smith concluded, “This is more than a contempt motion against one individual. It’s about protecting taxpayers and holding an increasingly shady government to account.”

Contact: Christine Bujold | (416) 325-1330 | christine.bujold@pc.ola.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 30, 2013

STATEMENT FROM ONTARIO PC MPP ROB LEONE

The following is a statement from Ontario PC MPP Rob Leone regarding recently released documents from the Ontario Power Authority:

“This morning I received further evidence that the McGuinty–Wynne Liberal government willfully misled the public about the cost of cancelling power plants in Oakville and Mississauga.

“In an anonymous Ontario Power Authority (OPA) memo leaked to the Ontario PC Caucus, Jesse Kulendran – a former Liberal political staffer – instructed the OPA to redact and leave out information requested by the Legislature concerning the cancellation of two power plants.

“This is further evidence that the government misled the public and instructed the OPA not to search for related documents.  It’s obvious that the instruction to the OPA not to release these documents had to have come from someone in the Minister’s office.

“This raises serious concerns about inappropriate political interference.  Kathleen Wynne needs to strike a committee immediately if she is serious about getting to the bottom of this politically motivated decision aimed at saving five Liberal seats and costing Ontario taxpayers over $1 billion.”

For further information, contact Christine Bujold christine.bujold@pc.ola.org (416) 325-1330

“They didn’t say sorry or apologize to taxpayers or their fellow MPPs…Clearly they did wrong, they ripped off taxpayers, and they’re not even sorry about it.”

                                                –Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak, Ottawa Citizen, October 2, 2012

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 3, 2012

LEONE: COMMITTEE TO ENSURE LIBERALS COME CLEAN ON $650M SCANDAL

QUEEN’S PARK – Taxpayers have come closer to learning the truth about the Liberals’ scandalous waste of at least $650 million in public funds after the Legislature voted in favour yesterday of investigating the Liberals’ ongoing refusal to release all documents in full, Cambridge Ontario PC MPP Rob Leone said today.

“What makes the Liberals’ gas plant scandal so difficult for taxpayers to swallow is the fact that the government has told so many communities there’s no money for that new hospital or highway that’s been promised and cancelled so many times,” Leone said. “And then they pour salt into the wound by showing extreme contempt for taxpayers by refusing to release all of the gas plant documents without any missing sections.”

The Liberals’ ongoing refusal to release all documents in full resulted in the Legislature grinding to a halt last week as the House debated the motion of contempt. On Monday, the Ontario PCs triggered a vote to end the debate, which put forward a motion to refer the matter to Committee for an in-depth investigation of the Minister’s actions, the extent of Liberal political interference, and the true cost of the gas plant fiasco.

The Committee will report back on its findings to the Legislature by November 19.
Leone reiterated that when accounting for the cost of new transmission lines and purchasing turbines, the cost of the Liberals’ cancelled gas plants jumps to at least $650 million – money that could have gone towards services like education and front-line healthcare or paying down the debt, but instead was wasted on saving a few Liberal seats in the last general election.

“The Liberals have yet to show even a flicker of recognition that their deliberate policy decisions and reckless overspending have put Ontario on track to tripling its debt to $411-billion by 2017,” Leone stated. “By referring the matter to Committee, we’ll ensure the Liberals are held accountable for their gross mismanagement of the province’s energy file and public funds.”

For further information, contact Christine Bujold (416) 325-1330 christine.bujold@pc.ola.org

“The relocation of these two gas-fired power plants has nothing to do with meeting the province’s long-term energy needs and everything to do with local politics and saving Liberal seats…Moreover the bill for this mess won’t stop at $230 million.”

–Editorial, The Toronto Star, September 25, 2012

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 2, 2012

LEONE: COMMITTEE WILL INVESTIGATE LIBERAL GAS PLANT SCANDAL

QUEEN’S PARK – Today the Legislature voted in favour of re-striking the Finance Committee to investigate the Liberals’ scandalous decision to cancel two gas plants that have cost taxpayers at least $640 million. Today’s passage will empower the Committee, which the Liberals have been blocking, to decide the extent to which Energy Minister Chris Bentley should be held in contempt for withholding documents, Cambridge Ontario PC MPP Rob Leone said.

“With the motion passed, we’ll be able to start getting to the bottom of these outrageous and politically-motivated decisions by the Liberals to cancel the Oakville and Mississauga gas plants,” Leone said. “Taxpayers deserve to know the truth about why $640 million – and possibly hundreds of millions more – were wasted to save a few Liberals seats during the last general election.”

The Liberals’ ongoing refusal to release all documents in full on the gas plant cancellations resulted in the Legislature grinding to a halt last week as the House debated the motion of contempt. Yesterday, the Ontario PCs triggered a vote to end the debate, which put forward a motion to refer the matter to Committee for an in-depth investigation of the Minister’s actions, the extent of Liberal political interference, and the true cost of the gas plant fiasco.

The Committee will report back on its findings to the Legislature by November 19.

“The Liberals have yet to show even a flicker of recognition that their deliberate policy decisions and reckless overspending have put Ontario on track to tripling its debt to $411-billion by 2017,” Leone stated. “By referring the matter to Committee, we’ll ensure the Liberals are held accountable for their gross mismanagement of the province’s energy file and public funds.”

Leone noted that the wasted tax dollars could have gone towards important public services such as front-line healthcare and education – or even paying down the debt. And that figure doesn’t even account for the billions of tax dollars wasted on other Liberal scandals, including eHealth and Ornge.

“The committee process will ensure the Liberals answer to the public – to the hard-working taxpayers who already have to deal with skyrocketing energy prices as many struggle daily to pay their bills or to even find a job,” Leone concluded.

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For further information, contact Christine Bujold (416) 325-1330 christine.bujold@pc.ola.org

“The final cost of the Oakville contract breach, likely in the hundreds of millions, will be added to the $190-million the government paid to kill another partially built plant in Mississauga.”

– Parker Gallant, National Post, September 26, 2012

For Immediate Release
September 27, 2012

LEONE: LIBERALS WASTED AT LEAST $640 MILLION ON CANCELLED GAS PLANTS

QUEEN’S PARK – The McGuinty Liberals have been far from honest about their squandering of at least $640 million of taxpayers’ money to cancel the Oakville and Mississauga power plant developments, Cambridge Ontario PC MPP Rob Leone said today.

“The government is trying to dupe the public and media into believing that TransCanada settled a $1-billion contract dispute for a mere $40 million,” Leone stated. “This is offensive to hard-working Ontarians as these cancellations will surely result in significant increases on hydro bills.”

Energy experts agree that the scrapping of the two plants will result in fees and penalties in the range of $640 million to potentially more than $1 billion. According to energy expert and former banker Parker Gallant, “Full details of this fiasco may never be known. Ontario’s Society of Professional Engineers said Monday it believes major additional costs to Trans¬Canada and others are likely buried in documents that may never see daylight.”

“The McGuinty Liberals have engaged in a campaign of concealment and deception throughout the gas plant fiasco,” Leone continued. “They are determined to hide the true costs of these cancellations from Ontarians.”

Documents released Monday reveal the Ontario Power Authority (OPA) advised the government they would be “pleased” if a negotiated settlement with TransCanada “does not exceed $1.2 billion.” The 36,000 documents, many of which were heavily redacted, contain a “Replacement Project Comparison” chart detailing the OPA’s “counter-proposal” of $487 million in response to TransCanada’s $952-million settlement request.

“We have emails from high-ranking bureaucrats at the OPA and Ministry of Energy discussing their desire to settle the Oakville cancellation for anywhere between $487 million to $1.2 billion, yet the Liberals expect Ontarians to believe their spin that this decision will cost taxpayers only $40 million,” Leone said.

“The Liberal government’s selfish and politically-motivated decision to cancel these two plants means that hundreds of millions of dollars will not go towards important public services, like front-line healthcare and education. This has hurt Ontario and taxpayers deserve the truth,” Leone concluded.

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For further information, contact Christine Bujold (416) 325-1330 christine.bujold@pc.ola.org