Call The Damn Election

"Hydro customers will be paying higher rates for electricity in the future as a result of not only the cancellation of the Oakville contract, but also because the (Ontario Power Authority) not being able to take full advantage of the terms within the contract that may well have enabled the province to get a better deal."
Ontario Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk

"I was part of a cabinet that made this decision. There were mistakes made. I have apologized and I do apologize for those mistakes, but my responsibility now is to make sure that this never happens again.
"Those were decisions that were made by other people in other conversations, and I wasn't part of those conversations. I wasn't in those rooms."
Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne

"I regret the fact that we hadn't acted soon as a government, but it was right to relocate those plants."
former Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty

Forever unapologetic for the amazing waste of taxpayers' money, Dalton McGuinty clings to his sanctimony, that he has never sacrificed his principles. His principles being steadfastly beyond criticism, of the highest moral calibre. This is his vision of himself, and it is not one, albeit belatedly, shared by the voters of Ontario. Belated in their realization that the man did the province no great favours as an administrator of the public weal.

His vision of himself as the "education" premier, the "health care" premier notwithstanding, his poor administrative and decision-making capabilities cost Ontarians dearly, tossing off casually $1-billion in eHealth, another enormous amount of funding in the Ornge scandal, making a mockery of law and order in Caledonia in permitting aboriginal 'warriors' to commit mayhem with no consequences, and landing Ontarians with huge bills to pay over his last-ditch attempt to remain in power through cancelling committed gas plant structures.

Electricity consumers will be picking up the enormous tab for the decisions made by the McGuinty administration. Just as we were saddled with enormous costs resulting from poor decisions on the part of Ontario Hydro, with part of our monthly billing representing the millions owing by the provincially-owned service, previously.

Auditor General Lysyk's report places the total figure lost by the decision of the-then Liberal government of Dalton McGuinty to buy votes in the Oakville and Mississauga ridings by desperate last-minute election promises to close and relocate the Oakville plant to Kingston and moving the Mississauga plant to Sarnia at a staggering $1.1-billion in penalties.

For McGuinty the positive result was that his government was re-elected, just shy of another majority. For the taxpayer the negative result was that the government lied and lied again, informing the electorate that the penalty would result in a minimum of cost. As though $40-million and another $190 million were to be sloughed off as inconsequential. But even then there were those who knew and made every effort to hide the true costs.

Conservative leader Tim Hudak isn't actually far off the mark by stating that ..."the Liberals sold the taxpayers down the river with $1.1-billion to cancel the gas plants..." And for all of Premier Wynne's apologies and insistence that there will be no repeat under her watch, it's time her watch came to a full conclusion with the calling of an election so that voters can have the opportunity to elect a premier.

For all her protestations of innocence in the matter, she was part of the McGuinty-era elections team and although she may not have been among those who had the 'conversation' that led to the decision to cancel the gas plants in exchange for votes of gratitude, she did sign off on the issue. As an integral member of the McGuinty team, her own integrity can be called into question, quite legitimately.