Gas-plant deal cheaper than suit, Wynne testifies

Ontario’s Liberal government was advised that negotiations with the developer of the cancelled Oakville gas plant would be cheaper than a lawsuit, Premier Kathleen Wynne testified Tuesday at legislative hearings as she defended her role in the affair. “The risk of litigation was, we believed, greater in terms of the interests of the people of Ontario than the risk of entering into a negotiation, so that is the decision that we made,” Wynne told the justice committee. “The risk of a higher cost was there on both options.” It was Wynne’s second appearance this year before the committee, which is probing the Liberals’ decisions to cancel planned gas plants in Oakville and Mississauga prior to the 2011 election at a cost of up to $1.1 billion. The NDP accused Wynne of driving up the cost of the Oakville cancellation when she signed a cabinet document that promised to make the developer — TransCanada Enterprises — “whole,” which they said undermined the province’s negotiating position. The Liberals didn’t want a lawsuit becoming news during the 2011 election campaign, so they chose the more expensive option of negotiating for a new gas plant with TransCanada, said NDP house leader Gilles Bisson. Wynne told the committee she wasn’t directly involved in the Liberals’ decisions to scrap the gas plants before the 2011 election.