Ex-McGuinty aide sentenced for deleting documents
TORONTO — A plot to delete documents about the Ontario government’s cancellation of two gas plants struck at the heart of the democratic process, a judge said Wednesday as he sentenced a former top political aide to four months in jail.
The crime committed by David Livingston, chief of staff to former Liberal premier Dalton McGuinty, was extremely serious and demands proper denunciation, Ontario court Judge Timothy Lipson said.
“His conduct was an affront to, and an attack upon, democratic institutions and values,” Lipson said. “An attempt to tamper with the democratic process requires a strong denunciatory response.”
Lipson also sentenced Livingston, 65, a first-time offender with an otherwise exemplary record of private and public service, to 12 months of probation, including 100 hours of community service. Livingston was led from court in handcuffs.
Defence lawyer Brian Gover said outside court that his client would appeal both conviction and sentence, and denounced the punishment meted out to Livingston, a married father and grandfather.
Livingston was found guilty in January on two counts: illegal use of a computer and attempted mischief to data. The latter charge was stayed.
Livingston’s co-accused, former deputy chief of staff Laura Miller, was acquitted on all counts. Miller is a former executive director of the B.C. Liberal Party, and headed the Liberals’ election campaign in 2017.
The sentencing comes just two months ahead of a general election in which Ontario voters will cast judgment on McGuinty’s successor, Premier Kathleen Wynne, who has not been directly implicated in the gas plants scandal although she was a cabinet minister at the time.