rfmcdonald | [LINK] "Ontario power plant cancellations: Ex-premier Dalton McGuinty says ‘our government was wrong (Reply)

The Toronto Star's Bernard Weil reports on former premier Dalton McGuinty's testimony about the relocation of gas power plants in two Greater Toronto Area municipalities, Oakville and Mississauga. The whole thing has ramifications for the government of McGuinty's successor. Will the thing boil over?

In long-awaited testimony Tuesday before a legislative committee investigating the controversial cancellations in Oakville and Mississauga — which opposition parties charge was done to save five Liberal seats — McGuinty maintained the plants were axed because they were too close to residential areas and emissions could cause respiratory problems.

“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,” McGuinty said.

When it came time to build the plants, regulations implemented in 2009 would not have allowed wind turbines on the sites so it would have been folly to build natural gas-fired power plants there, McGuinty added.

“This all happened in the run-up to the election campaign,” he admitted, speaking of the Mississauga plant axed less than two weeks before voting day on Oct. 6, 2011.

“When that campaign began, the people of that community repeated their argument that the plant didn’t belong there.”

He added: “all three parties promised to cancel the plant if elected.”

McGuinty also acknowledged the minority government’s ability to get accurate figures on the cancellation costs has been “less than stellar.”

Opposition MPPs said the former premier’s testimony failed to clear up questions on when the government knew the cancellation costs were higher than the figures they kept using publicly.