Ford vows probe of Liberal spending

TORONTO • Premier Doug Ford slammed his predecessor’s handling of Ontario’s books Monday, calling it the “biggest government scandal in a generation,” as he announced plans for a special committee that would dig further into the province’s fiscal situation.

Ford’s vow to hold the previous regime accountable came in a speech to caucus delivered days after his finance minister announced Ontario was dealing with a recently revised $15 billion deficit.

“They do not just get to walk away from this,” said Ford, whose Progressive Conservatives won a majority this spring. “We will demand answers about where the money went.”

Critics said Ford’s move would likely set the stage for cuts to services and expressed skepticism about the committee’s work.

The premier, however, said the work of the “select committee” was much needed. The legislative body will have the power to call witnesses, compel documents and gather evidence for a final report expected in December, he said.

Ford provided the details as he stood beside Finance Minister Vic Fedeli, who on Friday said the Progressive Conservatives had chosen to adopt accounting practices used by the auditor-general and had — through the work of an independent commission — found greater deficits under the Liberals than had been reported.

“Vic you helped shine the spotlight on the biggest government scandal in a generation,” Ford said. “We’re not going to let Kathleen Wynne and her cronies walk away from their $15-billion scandal because we can’t let anything like this ever happen again,” he said.

Wynne, who is still a member of the legislature, said Ford is using the commission of inquiry and now the select committee to justify cuts he intends to make to public services. She stood by her record as premier and her government’s reporting on its spending.

“He’s creating that context for cuts,” she said. “But he’s doing it in a particularly vicious, personal and, I think, misleading way.”

The committee will be made up of six government and three NDP legislators.

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath predicted the committee will be a “dog-and-pony show” and won’t address urgent needs.

“There’s nothing new in what’s happening here except that the premier’s obviously got the wrong priorities,” she said. “If we had a select committee on hospitals that are crowded with hallway medicine we would be happy about that.”

Wilfrid Laurier University political science professor Barry Kay said the use of the committee, and the power it grants legislators, seems out of context with the importance of the issue. In the end, the Liberal government was held accountable by voters when they were reduced to seven seats, he said.