g-Pembroke MPP John Yakabuski stood in the House and asked Premier Kathleen Wynne to allow the Standing Committee on Justice Policy to continue its investigation of the $1.1 billion of public funds wasted on two cancelled gas plants, and the possibly criminal deletion of records by senior Liberal operatives. In response, the Premier avoided answering the question before referring it to her House Leader to refuse the request.
“It’s unfortunate that the government wants this scandal swept under the rug,” MPP Yakabuski said. “There is an ongoing criminal investigation by the OPP anti-rackets squad into deleted records, and over a billion dollars of public money wasted-this is a very serious matter. Regardless of how the Premier tries to spin it, the Justice Committee still has outstanding questions for key witnesses.”
It is now common knowledge that the former Premier’s chief of staff, David Livingston, is alleged to have broken the government’s own security procedures when he granted access to computers in the Premier’s office to outside computer technician Peter Faist. It has been established that Laura Miller and Mr. Faist are key witnesses to exactly what happened. After this information was made public by the OPP, the Justice Committee requested on several occasions for Ms. Miller and Mr. Faist to appear. The election was called before they were able to testify.
Now that the election is over and the Liberals have a majority government, the Premier has taken the position that the Committee should not interview these key witnesses and instead begin report writing.
“The public have a right to know who was responsible for the destruction of documents and the deletion of emails,” MPP Yakabuski said. “Today the Premier had a chance to distinguish herself from Dalton McGuinty by doing the right thing. Instead, she chose to put politics ahead of the public interest,” he concluded.
