Ontario Tories accuse Dalton McGuinty of lying about gas plant closures at committee hearing

Dalton McGuinty was back in the spotlight on Tuesday morning.

The former Ontario premier took to the witness stand in front a legislative committee to answer questions about his decision, during the 2011 election campaign, to relocate gas plants in Oakville and Mississauga.

The all-party committee had some tough questions for Premier Dad: Who made the decision to move the plants? Why did they make the decision to move the plants? When did his government know that the cost of moving the plants would exceed $500 million?

McGuinty responded to all the questions; the Tories didn't believe his answers.

McGuinty admitted that his government made a mistake in locating the plants in Mississauga and Oakville but was resolute about his decision to move them.

"In Oakville and Mississauga, we were faced with a circumstance where gas plants were sited right next to schools, condominium towers, family homes, and a hospital. That wasn’t right," he said.

[ Related: Oakville power plant closure will cost Ontario taxpayers $310M ]

To his credit, the now backbench MPP admitted that he made the decision without fully understanding the associated costs.

"I knew that going into this, that when I said we're going to relocate gas plants, that I did not have at my hand the costs associated with that," McGuinty said adding that the $565 million figure was a surprise to him.

"I knew it was going to be difficult getting out of this [and] that there were going to be costs associated with that. That is was really difficult to get your arms around what those costs were going to be. But I knew that there was a fundamental underlying principle: we could not put those plants in those communities."

McGuinty concluded his session by encouraging committee members to rise above political partisanship.

"My advice to the committee is to...turn your minds to...the cost issues, document production and locating plants in the future," he said.

"I think those are very important issues that will serve all Ontarians well."

[ Related: Ontario Tories call for non-confidence vote on gas plant controversy unlikely to succeed ]

Not surprisingly, the Tories aren't heeding his advice.

Shortly after his appearance at Committee, the opposition party released this statement accusing both the current and former premier of lying — under oath — about when they knew the true cost of the gas plant closures.

(Photo courtesy of the Canadian Press)

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