180 million reasons the McGuinty government sucks?

[Boges]

http://www.torontosun.com/2012/07/10/taxpayers-hit-with-180-million-cost-of-moving-mississauga-gas-plant

TORONTO - Each man, woman and child in Ontario will be billed $14 to scrap a gas-burning electrical plant in Mississauga.

“The cost — the bottom line cost — of relocating the Mississauga gas plant to Lambton is $180 million,” Energy Minister Chris Bentley said Tuesday.

“We have fulfilled the commitment we had made to the residents of Mississauga and Etobicoke.”

The announcement caps an embarrassing episode for the government, which abruptly cancelled the 300-megawatt project in the middle of last fall’s election campaign. Scrapping the power plant quieted a revolt from residents upset at the construction and eased re-election concerns for three nearby Liberal MPPs. However, the move sparked a multi-million dollar lawsuit from the companies involved.

Bentley said the deal struck Monday between Ontario and Greenfield Power will see a similar sized plant built at Sarnia’s soon-to-be-closed, coal-burning Lambton Generating Station.

“It’s a good fit,” Bentley said, denying the government killed the plant to save the seats of current and former cabinet ministers Charles Sousa, Laurel Broten and Donna Cansfield.

Opposition MPPs said the minister should be ashamed for leaving the public with the bill for saving Liberal skins.

“It’s clear that the Liberal party of Ontario decided to save two seats in the last election by incurring this huge risk and now we’re stuck with the bill,” said NDP energy critic Peter Tabuns. “It’s either going to be on your tax bill or your hydro bill and it’s a scandal, it’s completely outrageous.”

Yeah yeah they suck but Hudak blew the election blah blah blah.

Devil we know blah blah blah.

There are no better alternatives blah blah blah.

Harris was worse blah . . .

At this point a Colobus monkey can do a better job running this province than Mcguinty.

He's killing industries, he's fighting with the doctors, he's fighting with the teachers, he's making hydro increasingly unaffordable. He really hasn't done a lot to remove the deficit. For the most part he's ignored the Drummond Report.

Alberta really does look like a nice place about now.

Edited July 11, 2012 by Boges

[Argus]

Alberta really does look like a nice place about now.

Agree with everything else you've said, but Alberta's Liberal government seems no more fiscally competent than McGuinty. They just have oil money to help cushion the massive yearly spending increases.

For now.

[Shakeyhands]

http://www.torontosun.com/2012/07/10/taxpayers-hit-with-180-million-cost-of-moving-mississauga-gas-plant

Yeah yeah they suck but Hudak blew the election blah blah blah.

Devil we know blah blah blah.

There are no better alternatives blah blah blah.

Harris was worse blah . . .

At this point a Colobus monkey can do a better job running this province than Mcguinty.

He's killing industries, he's fighting with the doctors, he's fighting with the teachers, he's making hydro increasingly unaffordable. He really hasn't done a lot to remove the deficit. For the most part he's ignored the Drummond Report.

Alberta really does look like a nice place about now.

Sounds like the federal gov't!

[waldo]

CON/NDP po-lit-i-cal pos-tur-ing! When the cancellation announcement was made, both the Conservative and NDP parties lined right up around it with similar stated commitments, "that they (also) would not have a gas plant on that site" (per Liberal Energy Minister Chris Bentley). So... you're saying the McGuinty government should have plowed through, steam-rolled ahead... in the face of that most significant opposition from Mississauga and Etobicoke residents... is that what you're saying?

[Boges]

CON/NDP po-lit-i-cal pos-tur-ing! When the cancellation announcement was made, both the Conservative and NDP parties lined right up around it with similar stated commitments, "that they (also) would not have a gas plant on that site" (per Liberal Energy Minister Chris Bentley). So... you're saying the McGuinty government should have plowed through, steam-rolled ahead... in the face of that most significant opposition from Mississauga and Etobicoke residents... is that what you're saying?

Or not put it in there in the first place. Canceling the plant during an election campaign is nothing but politics. Starting the project and mothballing it half-way thru is a horrible waste of taxpayer money.

Is any Nimby going to be happy with a power-plan near them? I thought Dalton was going to stand up for what's right!

They did the exact same thing in Oakville BTW to save that riding's Liberal MPP. The difference the rich Oakvillians faught back with Erin Brockovich so the project never got off the ground.

Sarnia-Lambton sure doesn't need a new power plant, but wait, they vote Conservative so fuck em'

Edited July 11, 2012 by Boges

[waldo]

Sarnia-Lambton sure doesn't need a new power plant, but wait, they vote Conservative so fuck em'

oh my! Some, possibly not the waldo, might suggest that shows a sign of reaching out to those with a different political persuasion... a 'uniter... not a divider'!!! C'mon, think bigger picture.

[Boges]

oh my! Some, possibly not the waldo, might suggest that shows a sign of reaching out to those with a different political persuasion... a 'uniter... not a divider'!!! C'mon, think bigger picture.

You're joking right? Wasting $180 million to put a power plant in a struggling rural bordertown community is a uniting move?

[capricorn]

You're joking right? Wasting $180 million to put a power plant in a struggling rural bordertown community is a uniting move?

McGuinty hasn't yet decided how to pay this $180M plus any other penalties for his other follies. On the radar is either raising taxes or increasing hydro rates.

[Boges]

McGuinty hasn't yet decided how to pay this $180M plus any other penalties for his other follies. On the radar is either raising taxes or increasing hydro rates.

I thought he promised not to raise taxes.

[Topaz]

Maybe its time for the provinces to create a business lottery, where they sell tickets and the money raised to used for purposes as this. This way the government gets the money needed and the people get a chance to win back some money.

[Guest Peeves]

180 million reasons the McGuinty government sucks?

I must say That I object to your Subject heading.

It should read..."180 million MORE! reasons the McGuinty government sucks?

[Boges]

Very true. I apologize for the error.

[Guest Peeves]

I thought he promised not to raise taxes.

he had his claws err :angry: , fingers crossed.

[gunrutz]

CON/NDP po-lit-i-cal pos-tur-ing! When the cancellation announcement was made, both the Conservative and NDP parties lined right up around it with similar stated commitments, "that they (also) would not have a gas plant on that site" (per Liberal Energy Minister Chris Bentley). So... you're saying the McGuinty government should have plowed through, steam-rolled ahead... in the face of that most significant opposition from Mississauga and Etobicoke residents... is that what you're saying?

In defense of the indefensible. Why do you do it?

[capricorn]

It's becoming clear that Liberal insiders are trying to save Dalton's bacon.

Unnamed Liberal campaign officials made the controversial $180 million decision that a Mississauga gas-fired plant should be closed, admits Energy Minister Chris Bentley.

Testifying Wednesday at the legislature’s estimates committee, Bentley emphasized the announcement came via “a Liberal Party press release” — not from the government.

But the minister said he was not aware who among Liberal campaign brass ordered the cancellation to save Grit MPPs’ seats in Mississauga and Etobicoke.

“I can’t speak to that. I can speak to the fact it was a Liberal Party press release,” Bentley said under grilling from NDP MPP Peter Tabuns (Toronto-Danforth).

---

Speaking to reporters afterward, Bentley refused to pin the blame for the debacle on Premier Dalton McGuinty, Liberal campaign chair Greg Sorbara or Grit campaign director Don Guy.

---

Tabuns, noting New Democrats opposed the construction of the plant that Bentley’s Liberal predecessors backed, said the government has some explaining to do about “this $180 million seat-saver.”

“We need to know, was it the Liberal campaign director who decided to cancel these plants? Was it the premier who decided to cancel these plants? Who do we hold responsible?” the NDP MPP said.

Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak was flabbergasted that it remains unclear whether taxpayers or electricity ratepayers will pay the $180 million tab.

“It reinforces the tragic bungling of the energy file,” Hudak told reporters Wednesday at Queen’s Park.

The plant was killed Sept. 24 in a Saturday news event deliberately kept from political journalists covering the election campaign.

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/politics/article/1224845--liberal-campaign-ordered-mississauga-gas-plant-killed-chris-bentley-says

They don't call him Teflon McGuinty for nothing.

[Boges]

So McDalton isn't incharge of his own party. Well this explains everything.

[capricorn]

Could it be...Dalton is merely a figurehead? Merely a conduit for shadowy Liberals more astute than he is? Thinking about it, he does seem wooden at times.

[Guest Peeves]

It's becoming clear that Liberal insiders are trying to save Dalton's bacon.

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/politics/article/1224845--liberal-campaign-ordered-mississauga-gas-plant-killed-chris-bentley-says

They don't call him Teflon McGuinty for nothing.

Teflon McGuinty? That's not what he's called around these parts.

[Guest Peeves]

So the Election Committee must be the ones to do the scraping deed by default.

http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2012/07/12/matt-gurney-ontario-liberals-find-way-to-look-even-worse-on-nixed-power-plant/

Excerpt.

But while that may absolve Bentley of direct personal responsibility for a complete waste of $180-million during times of fiscal austerity, it doesn’t do much to make the Ontario Liberal Party look any better. Bentley concedes that while he doesn’t know who in the Liberal campaign made the decision to scrap the plant, it did come from within his party. He says it was not Dalton McGuinty or Greg Sorbera, a Liberal MP and the Liberals’ campaign chief.

So if the decision wasn’t made by the government collectively, if it wasn’t made by the Premier, if it wasn’t made by the elected campaign chief and the current energy minister didn’t even get the job until after it was made … who made it? This isn’t just political trivia. The people of Ontario will end up paying for this $180-million mistake, and the interest that accrues against it. Truthfully pointing out that one’s rivals would have made the same decision doesn’t cut it. The Liberals did make the decision. They had a choice, and made it. It’d be nice if someone in the party was willing to stand up and at least acknowledge the cost to Ontarians and take some responsibility for the whole affair, which has been bungled from the start.

[Guest Peeves]

So McDalton isn't incharge of his own party. Well this explains everything.

So this will result in borrowing 180 billion... I want to know who is going to jail? WE WUZ ROBBED again.

Edited July 13, 2012 by Peeves

[TheNewTeddy]

Not certain a dollar counts as an individual reason, and, if it were to, that you could stack them and each would be an equal reason, but, that aside; if this is the same plant the instacancelled in the middle of the election, then I agree that McGunity sucks.

[Guest Peeves]

Not certain a dollar counts as an individual reason, and, if it were to, that you could stack them and each would be an equal reason, but, that aside; if this is the same plant the instacancelled in the middle of the election, then I agree that McGunity sucks.

The dauntless, disingenuous Dalton is determined to a direct a decline of Ontario into a dystopia.

[Argus]

CON/NDP po-lit-i-cal pos-tur-ing! When the cancellation announcement was made, both the Conservative and NDP parties lined right up around it with similar stated commitments, "that they (also) would not have a gas plant on that site" (per Liberal Energy Minister Chris Bentley). So... you're saying the McGuinty government should have plowed through, steam-rolled ahead... in the face of that most significant opposition from Mississauga and Etobicoke residents... is that what you're saying?

I remember reading about this some time ago and thinking how insane it was to locate a power plant that close to a large residential community. Yet the McGuinty government ignored all protests and simply bulled ahead. They apparently had no care or interest in the safety of that community.

Until election time, and their fortunes turned. Suddenly, that seat was very important. So they cancelled the project. The government didn't cancel it. McGuinty didn't cancel it. The Liberal campaign organization cancelled it. And no one with a shred of honesty is even trying to pretend it was done for any reason other than political advantage for the Ontario Liberals. To my mind then, the Liberal Party of Ontario should be the ones paying this money back to the taxpayer. I think all members of the Liberal Party of Ontario need to be assessed their share of the bill, and any moneys, bank accounts, stocks, bonds, pensions, houses, businesses, etc., they own need to be seized in order to pay back the taxpayer.

[TheNewTeddy]

The dauntless, disingenuous Dalton is determined to a direct a decline of Ontario into a dystopia.

Actually it was a combo. Brining Ontario to it's Knees takes longer than the term of one Premier. On March 1st 1971, this province was the best place in the world. Since then, a few people; knowingly, intentionally, or otherwise, worked together to destroy this province.

Bill Davis, Frank Miller, David Peterson, Bob Rae, Mike Harris, Ernie Eves, and Dalton McGuinty.

Miller and Eves were only Premiers for short periods of time, but Davis, Peterson, Rae, Harris, and McGunity are all, ALL guilty of destroying this province. All 3 parties.

[capricorn]

I think all members of the Liberal Party of Ontario need to be assessed their share of the bill, and any moneys, bank accounts, stocks, bonds, pensions, houses, businesses, etc., they own need to be seized in order to pay back the taxpayer.

Sadly, white collar crime applies mostly to business execs.