ALLISTON – The Ontario PCs are calling on the McGuinty Liberals to immediately come clean about their decision to burden taxpayers with a bill of at least $650 million when they cancelled the Mississauga and Oakville gas plants, all to save a few seats during the last general election, Ontario PC House Leader Jim Wilson said today.

“Dalton McGuinty and his Liberals have now received three formal requests from the Legislature to release all documents in full on their decision to cancel the two gas plants,” Wilson said. “They failed to comply the first two times. Now their Energy Minister is facing extremely serious contempt charges. What exactly will it take for the Liberals to step up, show some respect for taxpayers and produce these documents immediately?”

On October 2, the Legislature voted in favour of re-striking the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs to conduct an investigation into the government’s gas plant fiasco, and once again directed the Liberals to produce all documents in full. On Thursday, Wilson sent a letter to Government House Leader John Milloy requesting that the government stop playing games and immediately begin the investigation.

“It’s been exactly one year since the last general election and almost five months since the Committee first requested these documents,” Wilson said. “There’s no need for the Liberals to keep dragging their feet by waiting the full ten days allowed under House rules to finally form the committee.”

Wilson said the Liberals need to be accountable for wasting taxpayer funds for purely political reasons. “At a time when 600,000 men and women are out of work and families are struggling to pay their bills, the McGuinty Liberals selfishly chose to squander their money as part of their outrageous seat-saver program. This is a slap in the face for hard-working, honest Ontarians.”

The Committee would report back to the Legislature on November 19 with its key findings and recommendation on whether Energy Minister Chris Bentley should be held in contempt for not releasing information as requested by the original due date.

“McGuinty and his Liberals have yet to show a flicker of recognition that their reckless overspending has put Ontario on track to tripling its debt to $411-billion,” Wilson stated. “Once the Committee’s investigation is underway, we’ll ensure the Liberals are held accountable for their gross mismanagement of the province’s energy file and public funds.”