Ontario Liberals Corruption Laid Bare

[Argus]

In what I'm sure is a shock to almost no one, it turns out the private sector companies which profited so handsomely from the government privatizing a chunk of Ontario Hydro held a big fund raiser for the Liberals, raising $165,000. I have little doubt other such stories will emerge in the coming months detailing how the Liberals managed to profit from yet another miserable mistake in their management of the energy sector.

But that's just the tip of the iceberg. It seems Ontario cabinet minister all have fund raising quotas, which is why they sell access to the highest bidders. And just who are these cabinet ministers going to for the money? The corporations and organizations which their department supervises or has control over, of course. The kind of people who want the minister to do something for them. Of course, they'll tell you that they're not doing anything for all their 'friends' but realistically nobody is paying tens of thousands without getting something back.

A furor has erupted recently over Ontario’s lax campaign finance laws and the Liberals’ practice of selling access to Ms. Wynne, her cabinet and high-ranking political staffers at events that are not made public.

Some lobbyists who deal with the Ontario government told The Globe that Liberal operatives regularly tell people who want to discuss policy to attend party fundraisers to get their issue heard.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/hydro-one-players-paid-for-exclusive-access-to-ontario-cabinet-ministers/article29427906/

Edited March 30, 2016 by Argus

[PIK]

And she will probably wynne the next election. IMO There is so many people making money off this government they will never lose.

[Argus]

And she will probably wynne the next election. IMO There is so many people making money off this government they will never lose.

Then the money runs out...

[Boges]

Patrick Brown is doing fairly well considering no one really knows much about him. He just can't be stupid and tell the truth to the voters. Ontario voters reject truth, they need to be lied to.

Wynne is super unpopular right now. Not sure what she can do to reverse that trend. She's going to start tolling HOV lanes and increasing the price of gas through a Cap and Trade tax grab.

Tolken gestures like allowing beer and wine in grocery stores have pretty much landed like a led balloon. Buying from grocery stores is still as tedius and smacking of nanny statism as shopping at the LCBO. So what's the point?

[Bob Macadoo]

Tolken gestures like allowing beer and wine in grocery stores have pretty much landed like a led balloon. Buying from grocery stores is still as tedius and smacking of nanny statism as shopping at the LCBO. So what's the point?

I'm pretty shallow.....the glass wall in my Superstore has a great choice and I haven't been to the Beer Store since. I'm happy with this decision......I need to get my Scotch here now.....when's that legislation?

[Boges]

I'm pretty shallow.....the glass wall in my Superstore has a great choice and I haven't been to the Beer Store since. I'm happy with this decision......I need to get my Scotch here now.....when's that legislation?

You don't even have liqour in Grocery stores in places that treat people like adults.

The idiocy of the Beer in Wine in the grocery store thing is that it's not about improving the experience for consumers. They just auctioned off licenses to big grocery stores to make money and allowed them to sell X amount of beer and/or wine following the exact same rules as the LCBO but at an inflated price.

I only go to Beer stores to return empties. The LCBO is a decent experience but the government stacks the deck against any competition they may have.

See my LCBO thread to read me go on and on and on and on and on about this. It gets me really riled up. Makes me want to take up pot actually.

Edited March 30, 2016 by Boges

[Martin Chriton]

Stunning.

This should be illegal.

[Argus]

It's hard to believe these are the same sanctimonious, holier than thou people who decry the alleged Tory support from big business.

This kind of thing is corruption, plain and simple. But who do you call to investigate it when the OPP are involved with the Liberals, as they are, paying for election commercials to keep the big bonuses and pay cheques coming?

Corporations and lobbyists who regularly do business with government say the party has stepped up pressure tactics in recent months – telling them they must attend fundraisers to get a hearing on their issues – and they are getting fed up with the shakedown.

A senior official with a multinational company that does business with the Ontario government says requests to contribute have increased since Ms. Wynne became Premier in 2013. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said if he does not attend functions, calls will not be returned as quickly and the company will not get meetings with government. He said his company is getting fed up with the “multiple asks.”

Some Liberal insiders say fundraising is out of control. One said the party “needs to go into fundraising rehab.” Over the past few years, he said, requests for donations have become demands as party fundraisers “harass” people for money.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/ontario-liberals-face-backlash-over-fundraising-pressure-tactics/article29467353/

Edited March 31, 2016 by Argus

[PIK]

My buddy just received a 123g's hydro bill. lol And being close to Quebec I buy my beer there.

[PIK]

Another OPP probe on a cancellation of turbine project. Why does the OPP bother when they are going to bury it like the others.

[Martin Chriton]

$80+ million in dirty cash secured in part through the cash for access scheme @ http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/ontario-gave-80-million-to-teachers-unions-since-2000-auditor-general/article30074279/ .

Need to see resignations and money returned from the Liberal party *now*, and ideally folks thrown in jail.

It reasons like this that I object to paying > 50% taxes when our money is being used in this fashion.

[Argus]

$80+ million in dirty cash secured in part through the cash for access scheme @ http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/ontario-gave-80-million-to-teachers-unions-since-2000-auditor-general/article30074279/ .

Need to see resignations and money returned from the Liberal party *now*, and ideally folks thrown in jail.

It reasons like this that I object to paying > 50% taxes when our money is being used in this fashion.

Anyone who doesn't think this was in exchange for the unions bankrolling the Liberal ad campaigns during election time needs their head examined.

[andromeda]

$22 million handed out as 'grants' to teacher's unions in 2006 with no accountability? nice. and why are the liberals paying the teacher's unions contract negotiating costs when they're paying it to nobody else? do teachers not make enough money to make good for the negotiating costs by their unions? if anyone has ever wondered why Ontario is $300 billion in debt..... there's part of the reason.

[Topaz]

Unless, the Toronto voters scream bloody murder, nothing going to be done.

[taxme]

And she will probably wynne the next election. IMO There is so many people making money off this government they will never lose.

The only loser is the taxpayers in this country. But when was it those taxpayer's ever got out there and said something? The saying "tax me, I am Canadian" just shows the apathy and of of how most Canadians think. You can get more Canadians at a tree planting ceremony than you can get out there and demonstrate and say enough is enough, stop wasting my tax dollars. Maybe when the Arctic loses all of it's snow, it may. I said it may.

I have no doubt that Wynne will get back in. Ontarions love to put in politicians who don't care about them, and what happens to their tax dollars.

[taxme]

Unless, the Toronto voters scream bloody murder, nothing going to be done.

LOL. Toronto voters had their chance with putting back Rob Ford as Mayor. At least Ford cared about the taxpayer's. But they preferred to listen to the lame duck liberal media, who convinced them that a Pinto was better than a Ford. They have no one to cry to except themselves for their foolishness.

[Argus]

According to the Tories, and newly released documents, the Liberals could have cancelled the money losing contract with Samsung, which had repeatedly missed deadlines in order to produce power which, by then, Ontario didn't need anyway. Instead, for PR reasons, it chose to simply reduce the contract, leaving Samsung with a $1.5 billion profit that Ontario ratepayers could have kept instead.

At Queen’s Park Thursday, Fedeli said a memo penned by government bureaucrats on March 2013 warns that the Korean consortium behind the Samsung deal missed two important deadlines and that gave the province the chance to save $5.2 billion, without penalty, by exercising an out clause on the deal.

http://www.torontosun.com/2016/05/19/liberals-left-15-billion-on-the-table-pcs

[taxme]

According to the Tories, and newly released documents, the Liberals could have cancelled the money losing contract with Samsung, which had repeatedly missed deadlines in order to produce power which, by then, Ontario didn't need anyway. Instead, for PR reasons, it chose to simply reduce the contract, leaving Samsung with a $1.5 billion profit that Ontario ratepayers could have kept instead.

At Queen’s Park Thursday, Fedeli said a memo penned by government bureaucrats on March 2013 warns that the Korean consortium behind the Samsung deal missed two important deadlines and that gave the province the chance to save $5.2 billion, without penalty, by exercising an out clause on the deal.

http://www.torontosun.com/2016/05/19/liberals-left-15-billion-on-the-table-pcs

It's sad that politicians can get away with and not be held accountable for their misuse of taxpayer's tax dollars. There should be a law that a politician can end up being criminally charged for the misuse of taxpayer's tax dollars. Especially when the misuse of tax dollars runs into the billions. Maybe then these politicians would get the message that they better start to spend the taxpayer's tax dollars wisely or they could end up behind bars. Politicians never seem to show any care or concern as to how they waste and blow taxpayer's tax dollars. They always get a free ride. This has to stop.

[Topaz]

It seems taxpayers either have a party that spends then the next party elected goes the other way which make the voters want to go back to the party that spends, where's the happy medium party?

[Argus]

It seems taxpayers either have a party that spends then the next party elected goes the other way which make the voters want to go back to the party that spends, where's the happy medium party?

It's hard to have a happy medium when the first party spends you into near bankruptcy. All that's left after that is tightening the belt and laying off public servants. That's what will unquestionably happen when the Ontario Liberals are booted from office.

[taxme]

It seems taxpayers either have a party that spends then the next party elected goes the other way which make the voters want to go back to the party that spends, where's the happy medium party?

It is like I always say, and that is that the average Canadian taxpayer does not appear to care or want to care as to how or what or where politicians blow their tax dollars. If they did give a hoot Canadians would not be billions of dollars in debt, federally or provincially. Every time there is a new tax or fee on something all one can get from the taxpayer is another "sigh". Like the old saying goes "tax me, I am Canadian". So true indeed.

Here is a tip. Instead of investing your money in stocks or bank accounts put your money in taxes instead because they are always going up.

[PIK]

Reading that their quota system is the same as influence peddling, they may finally stepped into it. What burns me was the delmastro case. He spent too much of his own money and the justice system were very quick in nailing him convicting him and then the leg irons. When will it end.

[Topaz]

The Premier has announced that the Liberals won't be banned natural gas in homes..really...it was a stupid move in the first place.

[waldo]

The Premier has announced that the Liberals won't be banned natural gas in homes..really...it was a stupid move in the first place.

in another MLW thread discussing "the plan"... the plan that was never released... hasn't yet been released, I suggested interested (hand-wringing, fretful) MLW members just wait for the plan! What a concept.

10 days or so ago, Ontario environment minister Glen Murray stated: "Within the next couple of weeks you’ll see the entire action plan, supporting documents will be properly released. Natural gas will continue to play a critical role in the energy mix in Ontario in the future, and beyond that you’ll have to wait to see the details. No, we’re not banning natural gas or taking it away from people."

apparently, that wasn't enough as Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne had to just respond again to media questioning, stating that a report supposedly based on a "leaked draft", was false.... that, "natural gas will absolutely be used to heat Ontario homes in the future. The criticism that we have been getting is that we were going to be banning natural gas, and that is not something that we're doing,"

but c'mon, hand-wringing and fretful MLW members, you're missing out - I haven't seen any of your best worst yet in regards the joint announcement from Wynne/Notley about a plan to pursue joint initiatives in areas such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions and ramping up renewable energy use. C'mon, get to it - chop, chop; times a wastin'!

.

[Boges]

Why did this not go in the thread commenting about the plan.

If member Waldo believes this plan wasn't a leak from government officials, then I'd like to know where he believes it came from? The PCs or the Globe and Mail just making stuff up? That's quite an accusation.

Edited May 27, 2016 by Boges