[URBAN NOTE] "Kathleen Wynne says she’ll sign waivers to allow documentary’s release"

[rfmcdonald]

The affair of the TVO documentary of Kathleen Wynne strikes me as needless. What could there possibly be in it so damaging? That it will be released, as the Toronto Star notes, is for the best.

Premier Kathleen Wynne said Thursday she expects to soon sign release forms that will enable some version of a controversial documentary about her to be broadcast.

“We have wanted this documentary to be released,” she said, adding her “motivation” for participating was that she wanted to show Ontarians the inner working of their government and that she is not trying to exert editorial control over the project.

She said she expects to sign the waivers as early as next week, saying she has not seen the footage.

The original documentary that was set to air on TVOntario was to offer a behind-the-scenes look at Wynne and her government in the lead-up to the 2015 provincial budget. It hit a roadblock last month after director Roxana Spicer quit the project in protest after Wynne’s office refused to sign release forms.

The film also depicted Wynne under siege during February’s Sudbury byelection scandal, when Wynne, her deputy chief of staff Pat Sorbara and local Liberal activist Gerry Lougheed urged to step aside to pave the way for former NDP MP Glenn Thibeault.