Wynne gives gas plant testimony

Premier Kathleen Wynne testified for a second time Tuesday at the hearings looking into the estimated $1.1 billion cost of cancelling gas plants in Oakville and Mississauga.

Tthe NDP demanded Wynne testify for a second time after the Auditor General released the report on the cost of scrapping the plants which revealed a much higher price tag than previous reports.

During Tuesday’s testimony, Wynne told the Justice Committee she wasn’t directly involved in the Liberals’ decisions to scrap the gas plants prior to the 2011 election, even though she was the party’s campaign co-chair.

The NDP says Wynne’s signature on a cabinet document promising to make energy company Transcanada Enterprises “whole” severely weakened the province’s negotiating position with the developer of the cancelled Oakville plant.

Wynne also fielded questions from the Tories about knowing the true costs of the cancellations.

Lisa MacLeod is the PC Energy Critic: “In this case you didn’t get briefed. In this case you didn’t find out what the true costs were or you are not telling us the truth, you can’t have it both ways you cant say I’m going to prepare for Steve Pakin and you’re going to understand that you don’t want litigation and not know that there is a risk for the tax payer.”

Wynne: “I didn’t say that I didn’t know there was a risk. There were risks. There were risks associated with relocating these gas plants. There was a risk of litigation and there was a risk of higher cost. Of course we knew that. But the decision that we made was that the risk of litgation was the greater risk so we went down a different path and when I say that I acted in good faith in part of cabinet that is exactly the truth and I will continue to act in good faith.”

Wynne denied low-balling the original estimated costs. She says there were many figures being tossed around which is why she asked the Auditor General to determine the true cost of cancelling the plants.