Canada PoliticsSenior Ontario cabinet ministers call government’s own decision to close Oakville power plant ‘shameful’
Earlier this week, the Dalton McGuinty government disclosed that the 2010 closing of the Oakville power plant will cost Ontario taxpayers about $40 million.
That's $40 million in addition to the $190 million the government paid to nix plans to build a natural gas Mississauga plant last Fall, just days before the provincial election.
It's been suggested that the Liberals made both of those deals to save seats in swing ridings. In other words, they spent $230 million taxpayer dollars so that McGuinty could remain as premier.
[ Related: Deal reached to move power plant to eastern Ontario ]
It's not only taxpayers who are angry about this; even Liberal MPPs are seething.
According to the Toronto Star, Premier McGuinty's caucus members "let off some steam" in a closed door meeting on Tuesday.
As Premier Dalton McGuinty was in Oakville Tuesday apologizing for "clearly not getting it right, " members of his Liberal caucus were in an impassioned argument over the handling of the political crisis.
Senior ministers used terms like "shameful" to describe a debacle that has derailed all legislative business...
Some MPPs insisted they would have been just as candid if McGuinty had been in the room, while others said that his absence made it easier to rage against decisions made by the premier and his senior advisers.
"We've got to get out of this. This is embarrassing, " one minister told her caucus mates.
The fall-out from the debacle could lead to both political and legislative consequences for the Liberals.
The Tories and NDP forced a debate on a contempt motion, Tuesday, leveled against Energy Minister Chris Bentley. According to CBC News, the opposition parties are alleging that Bentley didn't release all documents with regards to the plant cancellations and are predicting that the true cost of nixing the deals will actually exceed $230 million.
The last MPP to be found in contempt:
The Globe and Mail notes that the last legislator to be censured at Queens Park was MPP William Price.
On March 17, 1936, William Price, an MPP, stated in the legislature that fellow MPP Augustus Roberts was "willing and anxious to kiss any part of the body of Dr. Godfrey, which he might expose."
It is not clear from the legislative journals what provoked the outburst, but Mitchell Hepburn, premier at the time, moved a censure motion against Mr. Price for his offensive language.
According to Wikipedia, shortly after the censure, Price announced that he would not seek re-election and retired in 1937.
[ Related: The premier, the power plant, and the people ]
