New foot, same shoe

When Ontario’s Progressive Conservatives were in opposition, they went on and on about the Liberal government’s refusal to ask the auditor general to conduct a special review on the costs of the gas plant cancellations.

But now the Ford government would have us believe that its green energy cancellations are a completely different thing that doesn’t need the auditor’s special attention. It’s not different. Not at all. To recap: For partisan political reasons, the Liberals cancelled two unpopular gas-fired power plants. Early estimates suggested it would cost $230 million.

“This is a very good deal for taxpayers,” Chris Bentley, then Liberal energy minister, said in 2012. A year later, that figure rose to about $1 billion.

And now: For partisan political reasons, the Progressive Conservatives campaigned against green energy and, once elected, cancelled more than 750 renewable energy projects. They quietly tucked $231 million under “other transactions” for compensation costs.

Premier Doug Ford says it’s a great deal because the government “saved the taxpayers” three times that amount in energy costs by “cancelling these terrible, terrible wind turbines.”

As the great baseball philosopher Yogi Berra once said: “It’s like déjà vu all over again.”

Indeed, there’s already plenty of cause for concern that $231 million won’t come close to covering the total bill. Only 215 applications have been submitted for reimbursement so far, as reported by the Star’s Rob Ferguson this week. That leaves more than 500 to go.

That’s why the New Democrats, who see a tedious familiarity with all this, are calling on Ontario’s auditor general, Bonnie Lysyk, to conduct a deep dive on the finances.

Lysyk can do that only by request of the legislature, a legislative committee or a cabinet minister. Ford controls all three of those options. And, not surprisingly, no request has been made.

That makes it politics as usual. The Ford government is looking to hide behind that request requirement just as the McGuinty Liberals did with the gas plants. (It wasn’t until the 2011 McGuinty minority that opposition members were able to force a special review by the auditor.)

This flies in the face of Ford’s repeated promises to restore “transparency and accountability” at Queen’s Park. He and his ministers are a long way off that mark. First, they claimed there would be next to no costs from the cancellation of so many renewable energy projects. Then they tried to hide the $231 million they allocated for this year. And now they’re claiming the auditor has already given their cost figures a thumb’s up so there’s no need for anything more.

Lysyk’s office did look at the cancellations as part of her audit of the province’s financial statements for the year that ended in March. That’s eight months ago. And if most developers still haven’t applied for reimbursement, how much could have even been known then?

Ontarians have been here before, and they have a right to know the true costs of the government’s actions sooner than later.

If the Ford government doesn’t ask Lysyk to conduct an in-depth review to determine how accurate or inaccurate their cancellation costs are, then they’re taking the same road the Liberals did with the gas plants.

That’s not a good road to be on. Not for Ontario’s taxpayers and not for a political party. Energy policy, let’s not forget, was a key contributor to the Liberals’ political demise.

If there’s one thing voters hate more than a bad deal with their money, it’s a government that looks like it’s trying to cover it up.

Ontarians have been here before, and they have a right to know the true costs