Bentley could face jail if found in contempt
Opposition forces probe of plant cancellations
Energy Minister Chris Bentley faces extraordinary punishment — possibly jail time — after opposition MPPs used their majority in the legislature to ram through a motion to probe the $230 million cancellation of two power plants.
“It’s a very difficult thing to have to listen to,” a sombre Bentley told reporters Tuesday after the 53-50 vote to send his fate to the legislature’s finance committee.
In their zeal to investigate how Liberals scrapped the plants to save the seats of five Grit MPPs in Oakville and Mississauga, the Progressive Conservatives and New Democrats believe the minister could be in contempt of parliament.
If the legislature concludes Bentley is — something that has not happened to a minister in the 220-year history of the assembly — he faces penalties as severe as incarceration.
Rallying behind him, Premier Dalton McGuinty charged opposition MPPs are smearing an honest man for political gain and setting a “terrible precedent.”
“These attacks, these threats, this heavy-handed, unprecedented process — using the full force of the legislature against one MPP — these are decidedly not in keeping with the standards and traditions we seek to uphold,” McGuinty told reporters at a hastily called news conference at Queen’s Park before the noon vote.
Tory Leader Tim Hudak conceded it’s “a sad day” for the legislature but said Bentley and the Liberals must face the consequences of their actions. “They made the choice and now they have to live with it.”
The crisis stems from the delayed release of 36,000 pages of documents related to the cancellation of power plants in Oakville and Mississauga.
While Bentley handed over the thousands of documents Sept. 24 — meeting a deadline set by Speaker Dave Levac — the Tories and NDP believe 2,000 pages have been redacted.
Still, the documents show it cost at least $40 million to stop the Oakville plant in the fall of 2010.
Late in the 2011election campaign, the Liberals also cancelled a gasfired facility near Sherway Gardens, which cost $190 million to shutter.