Tory MPPs demand Liberal documents
NDP warns committee probing deficit size could become ‘kangaroo court’
Emails and documents from former premier Kathleen Wynne, three of her cabinet ministers, top aides and bureaucrats have been ordered by Progressive Conservative MPPs probing Ontario’s finances after almost15 years of Liberal rule. The move came Thursday at a hearing of the select committee on financial transparency, struck by Premier Doug Ford to examine how this year’s provincial deficit ballooned to $15 billion from Wynne’s pre-election estimate of $6.7 billion last spring.
“The people of Ontario would really like to know why this money was spent the way it was, potentially wasted the way it was,” Tory MPP Ross Romano said.
The $8.3-billion difference between the deficit estimates includes $5.7 billion in Liberal spending — such as improved child care — that Ford has scrapped.
“We’ll have more to say about that in the near future,” said Finance Minister Vic Fedeli, who is preparing a fall economic statement that will include an updated deficit figure.
Romano told the committee of six Tory and three New Democrat MPPs that the government wants documents within three weeks in a searchable electronic format “with no relevant information redacted or sealed, regardless of any claim of privilege or confidentiality.”
The Tories also intend to call auditor general Bonnie Lysyk, Financial Accountability Office staff, Steve Orsini — chief of the civil service under Wynne and now under Ford — and former B.C. premier Gordon Campbell, who led an examination of the province’s books after the PCs took power. NDP members repeatedly raised concerns that the committee has not set terms of reference for calling and questioning witnesses, warning that could result in a partisan freefor-all.
“This could be a very good process or it could be a kangaroo court,” New Democrat MPP John Vanthof said.
The PCs want records shedding light on Wynne’s “fair hydro plan,” which cut electricity prices 25 per cent last year by borrowing billions, and on an accounting dispute with the auditor general over whether to book as an asset an $11-billion surplus in teacher and civil service pensions.
Hundreds of documents have been ordered from Ontario Power Generation, the Independent Electricity System Operator, the Ministry of Energy and the Ontario Energy Board, along with private firms such as KPMG, Deloitte, PwC, and law firms that advised the Liberal government.
There are no Liberals on the committee because the party fell to seven seats in the June election, below the threshold for official status.
Interim Liberal leader John Fraser said the committee probe shows Ford “hasn’t stopped campaigning” and is using the exercise to pave the way for deep spending cuts.
Wynne has noted accounting for the hydro plan was made public, as were the costs of her election promises vetted in the auditor’s pre-election financial report.
The duelling deficit figures also include the accounting dispute. But the $15-billion PC deficit does not include the cost of Ford’s election promises, such as middle-class income tax and gasoline tax cuts, or take into account his promised $6 billion in spending cuts.
The select committee has been asked to table an interim report by Nov. 1 and a final one by Dec. 13. NDP Leader Andrea Horwath has said Ford should call the police if he believes the deficit adjustment is a crime.