QUEENS PARK – After information came out on Thursday of alleged wrongdoing in the office of former Premier Dalton McGuinty, Ontario NDP leader Andrea Horwath has released the text of a letter to current Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne:
Dear Premier,
I wrote to you recently expressing my concern about the reckless waste of tax dollars by your government, and your ongoing attempts to make middle class families foot the bill for Liberal indiscretions.
Now, the people of this province are learning the police are pursuing an investigation into criminal breach of trust involving Liberal aides as part of an ongoing probe of your government by the Ontario Provincial Police anti-rackets squad following a decision by the Liberal campaign you co-chaired to cancel two gas plants – at a cost to Ontario families of more than $1-billion.
Detective Constable Andre Duval of the OPP’s anti-rackets section has detailed a deliberate attempt to destroy evidence of a scandal that has unfolded while you were a cabinet minister, campaign co-chair, and Premier.
Documents released by the Ontario Court of Justice containing new and explosive revelations detail a deliberate and orchestrated cover up involving numerous Liberal aides and members of your entourage, as part of an ongoing probe now focusing on questions about the period after you were sworn in and became Premier.
You have denied prior knowledge of these matters before learning about them from media reports, yet your present cabinet secretary – a public official whom you work with daily and is accountable to you – is cited more than 60 times in Detective Constable Duval’s account. Your cabinet secretary is not accused of wrong doing, but is identified by the anti-rackets squad as having extensive and detailed knowledge of the crimes being investigated.
This adds to questions that require explanations about your assertions that you have been in the dark at every stage as one of the most epic scandals and elaborate cover ups in the political history of Ontario unfolded on your watch.
It is simply not good enough to say: “I knew nothing about this.” For over two years, people have seen virtually every claim made by your party about this scandal proven to be false or misleading. The cancellation costs were $870 million higher than you claimed they were. What Liberal staff claimed was routine deletion of emails was, in fact, illegal. You claimed you had no personal role in the cancellation decision, yet you signed the decision on the Oakville plant. People just can’t take your word for this anymore.
There are questions that must be answered. As a first step, in light of these questions and ongoing revelations about a criminal investigation of Liberal attempts to conceal the truth, it is clear that a public inquiry into the cover up must be called immediately and that a special, independent prosecutor from outside the province be appointed to work with the OPP’s anti-rackets squad and ensure there is no scope for any tampering by your government with probes of this scandal. I first issued a call for an independent public inquiry last January. At that time, you insisted it would not be needed. The past year has proven you wrong.
Yours,
Andrea Horwath, MPP
Leader, Ontario NDP
