McGuinty must go to trial -- Breach of Public Trust

[gullyfourmyle]

I just read the thread where a lot of whining was done about McGuinty and his cancellation of the power plants.

The bottom line for me is this:

He took it upon himself to cancel the power plants for his party's political gain to retain important seats in the then upcoming election and thus retain power for the Liberals. This was admitted by Kathleen Wynn. It is cast in stone; no one including McGuinty has denied it.

Below is how the Criminal Code defines such an action:

Breach of trust by public officer

122. Every official who, in connection with the duties of his office, commits fraud or a breach of trust is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years, whether or not the fraud or breach of trust would be an offence if it were committed in relation to a private person.

R.S., c. C-34, s. 111.

Elements of Offence [edit]

The Crown should prove the following:^[1]

1. The accused is an official;

2. The accused was acting in connection with the duties of his or her office;

3. The accused breached the standard of responsibility and conduct demanded of him or her by the nature of the office;

4. The conduct of the accused represented a serious and marked departure from the standards expected of an individual in the accused’s position of public trust; and

5. The accused acted with the intention to use his or her public office for a purpose other than the public good, for example, for a dishonest, partial, corrupt, or oppressive purpose.

1. ↑ R v Boulanger 2006 SCC 32 at para. 58

The key here is that the power plant cancellations were not done for the public good. What motivated the cancellations was the preservation of Liberal seats. If the Liberal seats were taken out of the equation, we know the power plants would not have been cancelled.

That according to the language of the Criminal Code of Canada makes what McGuinty did a crime for which he should be punished in a court of law.

That is my view. Tell me what you think - Am I right or am I wrong?

Is there any reason why he should get away with this (alleged) crime when you consider that by his actions he has stolen a lot of money from every Ontarian's future income once the payments have to start being paid.

Why should he and his party not be paying for this crime?

I understand that many people fear Hudak would be worse as premier. Considering the scope of McGuinty's misdeeds while in office, his would be a hard record to break. If McGuinty's record weren't so horrendous, I'd be inclined to believe. But as of right now, I don't think Hudak could scale those heights.

I could be wrong.

Edited May 17, 2013 by gullyfourmyle

[TimG]

Public good has different scopes.

The people of the riding did not want the plant.

Therefore its cancellation was for the good of the public in the riding.

I don't think this law was intended to capture behavior such as this.

[Boges]

The Liberals keep using the talking point that both the NDP and the PCs were against these plants too.

The Liberals were adamant that these plants had to go were they were planned. They dismissed opponents as NIMBYS and I'm sure they'd have stuck to their guns had they been trying to build these plants in safe PC ridings.

That's what was scandalous about their behaviour. The Mississauga plant was being constructed when it was cancelled, and construction continued even after it was cancelled because a contract had already been signed.

It was a purely political decision but as TimG points out, it was done in the "public good". But it's sort of like saying you're going to build a landfill in the Middle of Downtown Toronto but decide to cancel it during an election, for the "public good".

Edited May 17, 2013 by Boges

[gullyfourmyle]

The law does not discount the fact that there may be a public good component. In this case if the ridings in question had been PC or NDP ridings the plants would have been built regardless of public good. The public good in this case was not the key factor; votes for Liberal MPPs was the deciding factor.

Since it has been admitted by no less than the subsequent Premier that the cancellations were politically motivated, I'd say McGuinty has been thrown under the bus by his own party. It's not one of those things where you can say he sort of did it but he sort of didn't. He did it for political reasons, not public good. Public good was merely a whitewash excuse.

If public good were really at issue, then the Individual Environmental Assessment that the Town of Oakville requested of Environment Minister John Gerretsen would have been granted. It was not. Instead to protect its constituents from the province, the Town of Oakville was compelled to enact its own Air Quality Protection legislation and started immediately to enforce it. I've never heard of a Municipality taking that kind of action before. That is desperation.

When the issue became radioactive the cancellations were dealt with in secret and with great speed apparently,

according to McGuinty himself, no consideration for costs involved.

It must be remembered why we have elected officials. Our elected officials exist to ensure that actions taken and money spent are in the public's best interests. In this case, the public's best interests weren't met initially with the placement of the sites and weren't again when McGuinty resorted to secrecy to terminate the deals.

If the deals had been cancelled in a public forum with proper scrutiny, the process would have taken longer than the time available before the election 13 days - so the only way the cancellations could happen fast enough was to do it in secret without due process - another aspect of the Breach of Trust.

This issue cannot be properly considered without the time frame, the election, the process, the money, the motives and who the intended beneficiaries really were since the welfare of the constituents was not enough to prompt the EA.

The cancellation was a clear cut crime with a motive, a payout and a province full of victims - us.

Edited May 17, 2013 by gullyfourmyle

[gullyfourmyle]

Here is a link to the timeline:

http://www.thestar.com/news/queenspark/2013/04/30/gas_plant_timeline_on_the_life_and_death_of_two_gas_plants.html

Edited May 17, 2013 by gullyfourmyle

[silver72]

Question, do you think that when voters in a certain area , like where the gas plant were, asked the Premier or PM, to stop the building or whatever, that THEY will recoup the expenses of that action and NOT the whole province/ country?? I'm sure in future, politicians will think twice before trying to please us voters.

[gullyfourmyle]

When an infrastructural initiative is proposed at any level, municipal, regional, provincial or federal, it is done as a rule, under the radar. The first people to find out about it are zoning officials who do not disclose to the public what they do or they wouldn't have a job. It's not until the issue makes it to a local council meeting that anyone in the public finds out about it and at that stage it's often too late to stop. Millions of dollars have already been spent and deals signed. The number of watchdogs in a given social setting are numerically small, sometimes only one person who hears about the initiative actually understands the long term impacts of the initiative. The Seaton Land Transfer ended up as a twenty million dollar fraud perpetrated by the Liberals in Pickering and only two people - me and one other rode herd on that issue long term. Neither of us from start to finish. The other guy started and I'm still going. The media ignored the whole thing. During the process though lots of people were on board eventually and it turned out that no one in Pickering who didn't have a financial interest in the proposed developments wanted Pickering's farmlands and natural heritage lands developed.

But before the public really found out about it, a naturalist group known as the Green Door Alliance had already signed a deal on behalf of the rest of us and without the rest of us knowing, with the province to save 60% of the land and develop the other 40%. That happened before the public in general knew anything was going on and before the Environmental Assessment found that the Pickering Seaton Lands were even more valuable than the Richmond Hill lands for which they were being exchanged.

To stop it at that point would have cost the province billions (so they thought, but even that wasn't true) so the province pushed the exchange through and committed fraud in the process. At no point could any group or even the entire Region of Durham have afforded to cancel the developments once they reached the point where the penalties could be invoked by the developers - unless the deal itself could have been proven to be illegal - which I believe it was based on my Criminal Code research.

The province didn't want to take the risk and let the fraud stand. It's such a flagrant real estate fraud that it can never be covered up. And the methodology used to commit the fraud is a technique the province uses frequently when conducting Environmental Assessments. So as much as the Seaton Land EA was done fraudulently, many others are done the same way. So the province commits real estate fraud over and over. in doing so, they influence the real estate market using fraudulent data.

There is no way for a community of any size in Ontario to fight off a provincial initiative when the province can and does resort to fraud to steamroller local opposition.

Since McGuinty took office, our provincial government has been run more like an organized crime family than as a democracy. That was likely true before he came along and maybe has always been the case. But in McGuinty's case, in my view, he doesn't even bother to hide the crimes. They're right out there in plain sight if you know what to look for.

Luckily for him, most Ontarians can't be bothered to look. They'd rather be fleeced.

The only way politicians will pay attention to what the public wants them to do is if we start using the legislation available to us to make them accountable. In the gas plant case it happens to be Breach of the Public Trust.

The big problem we have is how to have McGuinty formally charged with the offense.

You can be assured no MPP is going to want to make that happen. As an elected official they are inclined to look they other way because at some point the spot light might swing its focus to them. So for anything short of murder, MPPs are not about to invite a police investigation without massive public support.

By me posting here, I am trying to get that particular ball to start rolling.

McGuinty meets all the criteria for being charged.

The money involved is touted as 600 million. But that does not include the money it took to get the gas plant projects to the point they were when cancelled and doesn't count the money it will cost to deal with the land and infrastructure that will remain after all is said and done. It doesn't count the financial impact on the economy or on each and every working person in Ontario for many years to come.

Charging him with Breach of Public Trust should be a slam dunk. But so far I'm the only one talking about it.

What is wrong? Is it me or is it everyone else?

So far this thread hasn't attracted much attention. Maybe because of the long weekend.

[gullyfourmyle]

If a politician commits a crime; like anyone else he should do the time.

When a politician does the crime and walks, the electorate sends a message to that politician. That message is that we deserve to get screwed over and over good and hard. And thank you very much for abusing our faith in you.

The politician also sends a message: BEND OVER WHILE I DO IT TO YOU AGAIN.

McGuinty has been sending that 'bend over' message ever since he came to power starting with what my research identified as the Seaton Land fraud and since then he has compiled a resume we should all hope is never equalled.

The Breach of Public Trust legislation was written to protect us from people like him. If we don't have the guts to use the tools we were given what does that say about us?

Canadians have a system of justice known as the Rule of Law. No one is above the law. But if McGuinty walks on the gas plant issue, we've thrown our democratic rights out the window.

Millions of people have fought and died to give us those rights and expected us to use them to ensure democracy for future generations in perpetuity. To allow ourselves to be abused as I believe McGuinty has abused every living and future Ontarian is to declare all those millions of ultimate sacrifices in two World Wars and others since were a waste of time and lives. That's what you are saying to them.

Charging McGuinty with Breach of the Public Trust does not indicate he is guilty regardless of how I feel. I'm no lawyer. But the laws are there to test the person and the events. If he is found guilty, he goes to jail. If not then he can hold his head up high and walk with a clear conscience. But until he has had his day in court, he will not be able to do that.

I provided the legislation under a different thread. If you haven't read it yet do it. Learn what it means. It's your duty as a citizen of this Country.

That is why this forum exists - to give us a voice and to provide a stepping stone to getting that voice noticed.

So why am I the voice in the wilderness on such an obvious point?

Edited May 20, 2013 by gullyfourmyle

[Boges]

Hey man, I've been very vocal about how horrible the McGuinty government has been on this site. I won't go so far as to call what he did criminal but much of what he did was unethical and bad for the province.

I think the general consensus from people on this site is that the government under him was quite bad but they aren't convinced Tim Hudak would be any better. Of course no evidence as to what Hudak would do so horribly is ever given if he's given the chance. He's a conservative politician so he'd do things that Left-wingers won't like. But them's the breaks of democracy.

Anyway, I'm all in agreement with your distain for McGuinty. You're sort of preaching to the choir though, I don't think anyone here is brave enough to defend McGuinty's record.

Now Kathleen Wynne is doing a better job in trying to fix some of the mistake from McGuinty. However her reckoning will come when she tries to implement "revenue tools" for transit that both the NDP and the PCs seem to oppose.

Edited May 21, 2013 by Boges

[gullyfourmyle]

Thank you for the explanation Boges. I was beginning to wonder if I was preaching to the brain dead.

I won't go so far as to call what he (McGuinty) did criminal ....

We don't have to go so far as to call what McGuinty did criminal. That's not our job. Our job is to draw attention to the fact that it looks to us like a crime was committed and the perpetrator should be arraigned and stand trial to answer in a court of law for what he did.

If we don't do that, we're asking to get it up the ass again.

There is no doubt that Wynne is doing an admirable job with the mess she inherited. There is also no doubt in my mind that Hudak would undo the Oak Ridges Moraine and open it up for development. For that reason alone, that man must never be put in the Premier's chair.

As for my assertion that McGuinty should go to trial for the gas plants; I researched the legislation with a magnifying glass and he fits the bill like it was written especially for him. This is not his first crime either in my opinion as I've said. I've been following his career intently since 2005. There has never been an Ontario politician with so little regard for the law or so arrogant that he never even bothered to hide the evidence. The Seaton Land fraud's evidence is architectural and data based and is also enshrined as part of the real estate documentation. It can't be changed or hidden to hide fraud. I even know the name of the guy who actually did the physical work to commit the fraud for the government. He's where I got part of the information and why I believe that Seaton is not an isolated fraud.

The difference between your normal frauds and corruption is that the stuff McGuinty has been involved in is extremely complicated at times and some of what he's done has taken years to figure out. It took me about four years to figure out all the crimes associated with the Seaton Land fraud for instance.

The big problem is that nothing can be done about any of it without massive public will behind the initiative to make it happen.

That means the press, TV and radio need to be involved to the point where the government is embarrassed into having him indicted. It isn't something a private citizen can do or would have deep enough pockets to contemplate.

Once there is an indictment that should spark a larger inquiry into other stuff his government has done. He is far from the only person involved in these other cases but he is the leader.

This is an opportunity that won't come again. It's a golden opportunity for the public to teach elected officials and civil servants who they are working for and that if the rules aren't obeyed willingly there is legal recourse. But we have to seize this opportunity.

So if people on this site represent the Choir and really aren't brain dead, then it's time the choir started to sing and start earning their democracy.

Edited May 21, 2013 by gullyfourmyle

[Boges]

Well apparently they did break the law.

http://www.thestar.com/news/queenspark/2013/06/05/ontario_power_plant_cancellations_privacy_commissioner_finds_indiscriminate_deletion_of_emails_by_top_liberals.html

Top Liberal staffers — including in former premier Dalton McGuinty’s office — deliberately deleted or sought to delete emails and other electronic documents, Ontario’s Information and Privacy Commissioner Ann Cavoukian says.

The findings came in a new report that followed NDP complaints that too many key political staff seemed to have no electronic records on the controversial $585 million closures of power plants in Oakville and Mississauga before the 2011 election.

“At the root of the problems uncovered over the course of our wide-reaching investigation was the practice of indiscriminate deletion of all emails sent and received by the former chief of staff to the minister of energy,” Cavoukian wrote.

That is in violation of the Archives and Recordkeeping Act (ARA).

[gullyfourmyle]

Read Section 397 of the Criminal Code - that is the applicable legislation. That act does not come with jail time.

[Boges]

Read Section 397 of the Criminal Code - that is the applicable legislation. That act does not come with jail time.

Nor does it come with a fine.

It's basically a useless law. Perhaps this will change stuff.

[Boges]

It's really offensive that people are in a tither over Mike Duffy and Rob Ford's minor scandals when this government continually gets a pass on their scandalous behaviour.

Edited June 5, 2013 by Boges

[DFCaper]

What I find most ironic is that the same people who are outraged by Duffy and Ford are the same people who are giving the Ontario Liberials the pass... !?!?!?!!?

[The_Squid]

It's really offensive that people are in a tither over Mike Duffy and Rob Ford's minor scandals when this government continually gets a pass on their scandalous behaviour.

And here you are doing the same thing... In a huff over some deleted emails but unconcerned with potential bribery from the PMO and a mayor who smokes crack! Funny stuff!

[Boges]

And here you are doing the same thing... In a huff over some deleted emails but unconcerned with potential bribery from the PMO and a mayor who smokes crack! Funny stuff!

There has yet to be any real evidence Ford smoked crack and with Duffy we're talking 90k. The senator was kicked out of caucus. And who bribed the chief of staff?

With the Ontario Liberals we're talking about a government that cancelled 2 gas plants for purely political motives that will end up costing tax payers more than half a billion if not a billion. Added to that today it comes out that senior staff wilfully and illegally deleted emails to cover their tracks.

I'd say this scandal is a bit more serious.

[Keepitsimple]

What I find most ironic is that the same people who are outraged by Duffy and Ford are the same people who are giving the Ontario Liberials the pass... !?!?!?!!?

.....and what IS reported is never tied to McGuinty - somehow its all the Chief of staffs or the Election Campaign team....yet everything the Conservative Party does or doesn't do - including the Senate is breathlessly tied in some fashion to Harper.

[margrace]

People in Ontario were so sick of being treated as unimportant by Harris that they voted in McGinty hoping for a change. Well for me some things did change such as getting rid a hydro provider I never signed for and being able to cut my bill by $500 a huge amount if you are on OAPs. We have made it clear that we support an alternative and gave the Liberals another chance but with controls. Again who wants Harper's man Hudak in. Yes McGinty should be made accountable in some way. He broke our trust.

Edited June 6, 2013 by margrace

[gullyfourmyle]

Boges, that is exactly right. McGuinty and his style of governance has been more than a threat to democracy in Ontario. He rule had been a steady erosion of democracy from beginning to end. The Ford thing does not affect democracy. The Harper/Senate issue may end up improving democracy.

The reason this site exists is so people can learn what their rights are and start to exercise them.

When I was posting here years ago I found the people here were all talk no action. A waste of cyberspace which is saying something. Here it is years later and unless I'm very much mistaken, nothing has changed. The site is still populated with people who are all talk no action.

By action I mean writing your MPPs, the Premier, the Attorney General and the Information Officer to get McGuinty and his henchmen in front of a judge. How many of you have done any of that yet? How many of you have urged your friends to do it? Doing these things is just as important as voting if not more so. Taking action like that is how you defend your democratic rights. If you don't take a stand and exercise your rights, you lose those rights.

We have been steadily losing democratic ground while McGuinty has been in power. Same with Harris. Different styles, same negative impact on democracy. One a blundering bull, the other a sneaky weasel.

If you look south of the border, you see an entire country that boasts about its freedom that essentially has very limited freedoms left and a lot of fear from guns and government corruption. The gun proliferation is a response to corrupt government. Unless we take appropriate steps we'll have that same reign of fear here.

Margrace, you represent the majority of Ontarians based on what you said. But I didn't see that you've done anything proactive to help yourself or anyone else. If everyone did that, you'd get your change with the controls we want. But you have to spend a few calories to get them.

So if you love your freedoms bother to lift a finger in defense of those freedoms. Go and read at my post with the Abuse of Public Trust for inspiration. All of you who have not yet written not just Margrace.

[scribblet]

.....and what IS reported is never tied to McGuinty - somehow its all the Chief of staffs or the Election Campaign team....yet everything the Conservative Party does or doesn't do - including the Senate is breathlessly tied in some fashion to Harper.

Exactly.

He's the teflon premier. I agree he has a lot to answer for, but not criminal charges.

[gullyfourmyle]

If you have not yet written your MPP about this, now is the time before you forget. Democracy is fragile. Use it or lose it.

[Boges]

Exactly.

He's the teflon premier. I agree he has a lot to answer for, but not criminal charges.

Well this is what finally made McGuinty realize he couldn't go on as an effective premiere. So he quit last year and put the house into paralysis for months.

Though I loath this government, I have to say I'm not as offended by Kathleen Wynne. She seems to be very competent and has done a lot to try and repair some of the mistakes the McGuinty government made.

But she's on the verge of making new mistakes by levying many new taxes on Ontarian's to pay for long-term transit improvement. I predict that of all the scandals that McGuinty was a part of, it will be these proposed "revenue tools" that will ultimately end it all.

Edited June 6, 2013 by Boges

[Boges]

Apparently the PCs are going to OPP with this now. You might get your wish gullyfourmyle.

[Boges]

People in Ontario were so sick of being treated as unimportant by Harris that they voted in McGinty hoping for a change. Well for me some things did change such as getting rid a hydro provider I never signed for and being able to cut my bill by $500 a huge amount if you are on OAPs. We have made it clear that we support an alternative and gave the Liberals another chance but with controls. Again who wants Harper's man Hudak in. Yes McGinty should be made accountable in some way. He broke our trust.

You could say that we don't want to see the kind of budget cuts and scandals we saw from the Liberals in the 90's so the Harper Conservatives are still the way to go.

People are always criticizing Harris for doing what he was elected to do, while ignoring that the Federal Liberals were doing the exact same thing. Harper could never get away with the kind of downloading and budget cuts that Chretien got away with.

Opps Triple Post.

Edited June 6, 2013 by Boges