Members of a legislative committee plan to work today on a contempt motion against Ontario’s Liberal government over the release of documents on two cancelled gas plants.  Last week, they got bogged down in procedural fights after Premier Kathleen Wynne offered to expand the committee’s mandate to include all aspects of the cancelled plants in Oakville and Mississauga, not just the documents.

The Progressive Conservatives don’t object to expanding the committee’s scope but there is concern the Liberals are trying to take the focus off the contempt motion over the release of documents on the energy projects.  PC Todd Smith says Premier Wynne should be able to say exactly who it was that cancelled the gas plants to save Liberal seats.  “Most of your senior cabinet members could be under the spotlight in this Liberal scandal,” he explained, “Did one of them actually make the call to cancel the power plants, or was it as we suspected all along, unelected Liberal party officials, desperate to save a couple of Liberal seats in the GTA?”

The Tories and New Democrats are convinced the cost of the cancellations is much higher than the 230 million dollars the Liberals claim, and also believe there are many more documents on the gas plants that have not been made public.  Premier Wynne has admitted it was a political decision by the Liberal campaign team to cancel the gas plants ahead of the 2011 provincial election.