Fact Check: Liberals trying to avoid accountability for scandals and waste
TORONTO, May 4, 2014 /CNW/ - When the Liberals needed to save their own seats last year, they agreed to create a Financial Accountability Office in the wake of the billions wasted on the cancellation of the gas plants, the Ornge debacle, and eHealth fiasco. But once the window for an election passed, they spent months dragging their feet and avoiding accountability for Liberal scandals.
They promised to fill the office by December, but as the end of the year approached had still not appointed an MPP to the hiring committee.
"New Democrats wanted the Financial Accountability Office filled as quickly as possible after the gas plants scandal, and it's absurd to suggest otherwise," said Gilles Bisson, MPP Timmins-James Bay. "The Liberals didn't keep their promise to get the Financial Accountability Office filled last year and rather than own up to the facts, they're desperately trying to pass the blame just like they tried to cover up the gas plant scandal."
Here are the facts:
In September of 2013 Charles Sousa promised that the Liberals would have the Financial Accountability Office filled by the end of 2013 (Globe and Mail, September 26, 2013)
But the Liberals waited until the end of 2013 to put their name forward for the Financial Accountability Officer hiring committee.
They were called out by media: "Promises, promises. No doubt they were made in good faith last spring when the minority Liberal government needed the support of the NDP to prop up its budget and avoid a snap election. Unfortunately, that urgency appears to have faded." (Toronto Star, November 25, 2013)
Liberal game-playing during the hiring process led to a number of qualified candidates withdrawing from the process. In an attempt to avoid accountability for their scandals, they then tried to push a hand-picked candidate they knew would not pass the test. The Liberals are pointing fingers at everyone but themselves.
SOURCE: New Democratic Party of Ontario
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Alex Callahan, 416-908-7750
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