Review of documents filed in Trinity Global Support Foundation tax case shows big payments to insiders and millions spent on fundraising
Nearly $8 million raised for hungry school kids and to fight HIV/AIDs went into the pockets of Joe Fontana and fellow directors of his charity, the tax man says.
A government audit found with so much money going to benefit its directors and their businesses, and many more millions spent on fundraising and sunk into tax shelters, Trinity Global Support Foundation had strayed from its charitable purpose, court documents filed by the Canada Revenue Agency show.
Fontana, for instance, was paid $41,000 in “consulting fees” in 2009 and 2010 for the foundation he chaired, the documents reviewed by The Free Press say.
The CRA sought to lift the charitable registration Trinity relied on to issue an eye-popping $152 million in charitable receipts to donors in its last fiscal year.
Issuing that amount in tax receipts to Canadians anxious to reduce their taxes saw Trinity become the top-ranked private foundation in the country, with the total value issued at three times more than the second-ranked one.
In all, there are 86,000 charities in Canada. The tax agency didn’t mince words about what it thought about Trinity.
“The evidence,” the 2012 audit concluded, “demonstrates a preponderance of effort and resources devoted to non-charitable purposes.”
The audit and CRA letter yanking Trinity’s registration appear in documents filed with the federal court of appeal in Toronto, where Trinity fought the move to strip its charitable status, but lost.
In its audit of the foundation’s activities, the revenue agency referred to Trinity as an “organization,” rather than a charity or foundation.
It found Trinity invested and lost $7 million in an investment fund operated by Fontana’s boyhood chum Vince Ciccone, who founded Trinity in 2007.
“The organization was also found to have improperly paid over $865,000 to individuals and corporations related to the organization’s directors,” the CRA said in its Feb. 1, 2013 letter revoking Trinity’s charitable status.
The $865,000 was paid to its volunteer directors between 2008 and 2010 without proof such payments were legitimate, the agency said.
Fontana, then between his jobs as London MP and London mayor, was paid $41,000 in “consulting fees” related to public relations, communications, promotion, government relations and advisory services.
Fontana didn’t respond to a request for comment, referring questions to Trinity lawyer Duane Milot, who said he’d already responded to the CRA’s “unproven allegations” in court.
Fontana became a Trinity board member in 2008, when Ciccone asked him to join, and chairperson after Ciccone left in 2010 amidst securities charges related to his Ciccone Group.
Fontana and Ciccone were pals as youngsters in Timmins and later became partners in Advance Property Management in London. Fontana also appeared at investor seminars for Ciccone Group in recent years.
Fontana stepped down as Trinity chairperson late last year, but remains a board member.
The payments also included $325,000 apiece to Ciccone and board member Carmine Domenicucci for arranging a $7-million investment in Ciccone’s numbered company, 990509 Ontario Inc., and into GEMS Partnership, in which Ciccone and Domenicucci were shareholders.
Ciccone was paid another $25,625 for “management fees.”
Other payments included nearly $38,000 to Ciccone’s wife, Karen Thompson-Ciccone, for “consulting fees,” to Trinity vice-president Patrick Holmes $47,500 for “financial services” and to Fontana’s son, Ugo Joseph Fontana, $62,730 for “services as president.”
“Our audit has also revealed insufficient separation between the organization’s operations and the personal business and financial interests of those responsible for its operation,” said the letter outlining reasons for withdrawing Trinity’s charitable status.
Too much was spent on fundraising and plowed into tax shelters whose purpose is to help Canadians avoid paying taxes, the agency said. Neither is a charitable activity, the CRA ruled, and left too little for Trinity to pursue its stated goals of feeding hungry school kids through lunch and snack programs in Canada and to provide pharmaceuticals to fight HIV/AIDS in Africa and the Caribbean.
The money to directors, was paid to firms owned by them, such as Joe Fontana’s 719382 Ontario Ltd., noted Sherry Head, an auditor in the CRA’s charities directorate.
“There is no evidence provided during the audit to support any of the services allegedly provided by these corporations were provided to the organization,” Head reported April 10, 2012 to Trinity.
She noted the $7 million invested in Ciccone’s firm was lost when it went bankrupt, as the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) charged him with fraud and with misleading investors and securities regulators relating to $19 million.
“In the end, the poor decisions of the board, which appear to be more in support of its directors’ financial position than the pursuit of its charitable purpose, resulted in the organization losing these funds,” the auditor said.
She said it appeared Trinity had “structured its affairs for the private benefit of (tax shelters and) . . . its promoters and its directors.”
The fateful decisions to invest with Ciccone were made at meetings of the Trinity board in December 2008 and January 2009, when Ciccone declared an interest and stepped aside to have Fontana chair the meetings and call the votes to do so.
Also in the court file is a fateful September 2010 letter from Ciccone to Trinity saying: “We regretfully inform you that we are unable to pay out the interest due and the principle (sic) at this time or in the future.”
In its defence, Trinity lawyer Milot argued in court and in written submissions the foundation had felt it “prudent” to invest with Ciccone because the return promised “would have allowed the foundation to properly fund its other programs.”
“Any suggestion that Ciccone Group Inc. and the foundation were working together in this alleged (OSC) fraud is completely unfounded,” Milot wrote.
In fact, he said, Trinity has helped the RCMP, which has investigated Ciccone and Ciccone Group and will continue to do so.
“The current status of the investigation is confidential,” Milot advised court.
Milot noted Trinity was among 170 creditors of the Ciccone Group.
THE CASE AGAINST TRINITY
The federal tax collector never made public its beef with Trinity Global Support Foundation.
But when Trinity challenged the CRA’s move to lift its charitable registration in the federal court of appeal, the CRA’s audit and letter of revocation were put on the public record.
In the end Trinity lost its legal challenge of the CRA decision, but left behind in court several books of documents, correspondence and other material filed by lawyers on both sides of the dispute.
Five areas of “non-compliance” with Canada’s charity law were outlined by the agency in an April 10, 2012, letter to the charity. They were:
- Failure to devote resources to charitable activities.
- Failure to accept valid gifts.
- Failure to issue tax receipts according to the rules.
- Failure to maintain or provide adequate books and records.
- Failure to file an accurate charity tax return.
The CRA further alleged Trinity spent too much on fundraising and to tax shelters, noting “fundraising is not a charitable activity.”
Trinity’s lawyer, Duane Milot, argued losing its registration was too strong a penalty but Justice David Near upheld the CRA action in yanking the Trinity designation.
Milot said without being able to issue receipts, the foundation would run out of money and shut down in nine months.
And he said he expects to appeal Trinity’s loss to the Supreme Court of Canada but will need permission from the court to do that.
ABOUT TAX SHELTERS
- Such organizations may, or may not, be registered with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).
- They work with charities, and charge them a fee, to distribute things such as pharmaceuticals, educational software and other gifts.
- The value they place on donated items produces further receipts to charities, drawing the ire of the CRA which says the value of goods is often inflated.
- Donors are often provided with another receipt reflecting a higher value of the gift.
- Shelters promote themselves to donors as a way for donors to avoid paying taxes.
- For Trinity Global Support Foundation, an advertisement by a London financial agency touted that a $500 donation could produce $27,000 in tax receipts.
- The CRA said in court documents that Global Learning Gifting Initiative, the last of three tax shelters with which Trinity partnered, was a “sham” donation program with inflated values.
- The CRA has warned that donations to tax shelters will be audited.
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I have certain rules I live by ... My First Rule ... I don't believe anything the government tells me ... George Carlin
"Life Is What Happens To You When Your Busy Making Other Plans" John Lennon
Report: Canada could see indigenous uprising
Former military official says poverty and anger in indigenous communities mean conditions for an "insurgency" are ripe. Chris Arsenault Last Modified: 14 May 2013 10:21
Living standards for indigenous people on par with "third world" countries, buttressed by a large population of unemployed young men in a "warrior cohort", and easy-to-target economic infrastructure, all mean Canada has conditions for a potential indigenous "insurgency".
That's according to a new report penned by a former Canadian military officer for the MacDonald Laurier Institute, a think-tank supported by corporate executives.
"For many Aboriginal people in Canada, but especially for First Nations women and children, life on-reserve is dreary, dark and dangerous," wrote Douglas Bland in the report, Canada and the first Nations: Cooperation or Conflict? "Social fractionalisation significantly increases the risk of social conflict. The phenomenon provides motives for an insurgency," read the report, issued in May.
Bland refused interview requests from Al Jazeera, but conclusions from the Queen's University professor emeritus and 30-year military veteran have worried the Canadian establishment, especially in light of indigenous-led protests associated with the Idle No More movement, and Canada's increasing dependence on natural resource extraction.
'Ongoing injustice'
"The Canadian right-wing establishment is seizing on this to justify its own agenda of stricter controls and the continued criminalisation of native people who defend their rights," Taiaiake Alfred, chair of the centre for indigenous governance at the University of Victoria, and one of Canada's most influential aboriginal intellectuals, told Al Jazeera. "The positive elements of Canadian society - progressive values and social justice - are founded on the ongoing injustice of land theft and murder of indigenous people."
In November, Paul Martin, Canada's former prime minister and a business tycoon, echoed Alfred's comments, albeit in a softer tone. "We have never admitted to ourselves that we were, and still are, a colonial power," he said.
One of the world's most developed countries, Canada is home to about 1.2 million indigenous people out of a population of 34.5 million. The indigenous population is rising faster than other demographic groups, despite drastically higher rates of poverty, incarceration and substance abuse.
If indigenous Canadians were ranked as a country according to the United Nations Human Development Index, which measures living standards and life expectancy, they would have social outcomes comparable to residents of Kazakhstan and Albania.
Across Canada's prairies, the heartland of the country's agricultural industry and a centre for mining, about 42 percent of the indigenous population will be under the age of 30 by 2016, more than twice the youth rate in the non-indigenous community.
"The fact that Canada's natural wealth flows unfairly from Aboriginal lands and peoples to non-Aboriginal Canadians is a long-standing and justifiable grievance," the report said.
A large number of poorly educated, unemployed young men - a "warrior cohort", as Bland put it - provide fertile recruits for militant groups, the report says.
Using a formula first developed by researchers at Oxford University, Bland argued that the "feasibility" of unrest, rather than just root causes, could determine outcomes. Most of Canada's resource industries, including mines, dams and oil facilities, are located on land claimed by indigenous people - and attacking such facilities is easily feasible, the report said.
Comprising about four percent of the population, indigenous people make up 23 percent of Canada's prisoners, a 43 percent increase during the five years prior to 2013, according to a government report released in March.
There is near universal acceptance that the status quo is unacceptable, but across Canada's coffee shops, factories - and even within the MacDonald Laurier Institute - there is no consensus on the causes.
Other solutions
In a separate report for the institute, former government senior economic adviser Brian Lee Crowley and professor Kevin Coates paint an optimistic picture, far removed from fears over blockades, sabotage or a full-blown uprising.
"Blockades may be news," they wrote, "but the new joint ventures, long-term training programmes and successful indigenous businesses are what will reshape our common future."
They argue that indigenous communities are ready to hit a "sweet spot" as a series of Supreme Court decisions on long-standing treaties will give them a larger stake - environmental and financial - in natural resource development.
Other intellectuals, however, say support for mines, dams and other megaprojects with large environmental costs won't help get people out of poverty, and are contrary to indigenous support for sustainability.
"Crowley's argument is what the government has been saying for the last 150 years; historical experience has shown that it doesn't work," Peter Kulchyski, professor of native studies at the University of Manitoba, told Al Jazeera. "The communities that are worst off tend to be close to these resource developments … These partnerships between natural resource exploitation companies and First Nations generate some cash for the reserve elite, but not much in terms of employment opportunities for average people."
Especially in northern Canada, many indigenous people still depend on hunting and trapping for their food, and Kulchyski says this way of life should be preserved through land management deals, the sale of meat and eco-tourism projects rather than large-scale developments - which often imperil the land.
Financial confusion
On reserves, the territory of indigenous Canadians, property rights function differently than in other parts of the country, making it difficult for residents to buy and sell their homes or land because the territories are often administered through a form of communal property law.
Outside large-scale resource extraction, a lack of property rights make business development difficult, conservatives argue, contending that free markets are needed to end poverty.
Many Canadians blame indigenous leaders for the poverty of their communities, arguing corruption is rampant on reserves. Conservative Canadians often say indigenous people should leave their traditional territories on remote lands where employment opportunities are scarce and move to cities where jobs, training and education are more easily accessible.
After going on a hunger strike and making international headlines in an attempt to draw attention to the dire poverty faced by residents of Attawapiskat, a northern indigenous community, Chief Teresa Spence faced insinuations of mismanagement in January, after the government leaked an audit showing accounting gaps in more than $100m of federal transfers to the community.
Many Canadians say indigenous people receive too much money from the federal government, but Kulchyski says that isn't true. "The money comes to them from a separate envelope, so that's where the confusion comes from," he said. "They are actually getting less money than the rest of us [on a per capita basis] and that is reflected in the horrifying living conditions people are dealing with."
Bland's Laurier Institute Report comes on the heels of renewed interest in indigenous issues from Canadian society, following Chief Spence's hunger strike and the Idle No More movement, a campaign driven by social media and popular protest to draw attention to poverty and marginalisation.
Professor Alfred, who fought as a US marine before joining academia, believes Idle No More is a positive step for education, but its ability to change fundamental social structures is limited. He said he thinks recent reports about a possible "insurgency" are vastly overblown and based on poor research; part of a political ploy by another ex-military man to gain more funding for a broader crackdown against dissenters.
"As an activist, I am hoping and praying for more militant action," Alfred said. "But as a political analyst, there is no objective evidence that will happen. As it stands, all the evidence points to continued colonialism."
Another four fucking years of that bitch Christy Clark. ... Unless she has to resign because she does something totally unethical or stupid before that, which isn't at all out of the question.
Fuck. :(
With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be careful. Strive to be happy. ~ Desiderata
Another four fucking years of that bitch Christy Clark. ... Unless she has to resign because she does something totally unethical or stupid before that, which isn't at all out of the question.
Fuck. :(
They never resign. The whimper, weep and cry in the face of a scandal like the little rat, Gord Campbell, did after getting an impaired charge in Hawaii. Criminal charges never stopped weasel boy from carrying on with his agenda.
Then they wait a week or two to let some time elapse (they think that all the stupid commoners will forget by then) before continuing their ways to treat their friends in big business to a grand old time- while simultaneously sticking it to the blue collar man.
You are probably right though: we won't have to wait for too long before Clark does something unbelievable. As proven in these polls though, it won't make a difference because perhaps these guys are correct about the commoners- we have really short memories.
Another four fucking years of that bitch Christy Clark. ... Unless she has to resign because she does something totally unethical or stupid before that, which isn't at all out of the question.
Fuck. :(
They never resign. The whimper, weep and cry in the face of a scandal like the little rat, Gord Campbell, did after getting an impaired charge in Hawaii. Criminal charges never stopped weasel boy from carrying on with his agenda.
Then they wait a week or two to let some time elapse (they think that all the stupid commoners will forget by then) before continuing their ways to treat their friends in big business to a grand old time- while simultaneously sticking it to the blue collar man.
You are probably right though: we won't have to wait for too long before Clark does something unbelievable. As proven in these polls though, it won't make a difference because perhaps these guys are correct about the commoners- we have really short memories.
That's for sure... plus, most people think money is more important than all other things, no matter what else is being sacrificed, which is disappointing to me.
Didn't Glen Clark resign? It was in the 90s.... some of that decade is a bit of a blur to me. :P
With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be careful. Strive to be happy. ~ Desiderata
The whole country is full of corrupt politicians ... The cesspool known as Ontario is loaded with corrupt politicians, I'm pretty sure politicians have a corrupt gene ... At the very least their from the shallow end of the gene pool. Think about how good you got it today ... Because I'm pretty sure 5 years down the road 75 % of the population will be worse off than today.
I have certain rules I live by ... My First Rule ... I don't believe anything the government tells me ... George Carlin
"Life Is What Happens To You When Your Busy Making Other Plans" John Lennon
Perhaps this deserves its own thread, but Henry Morgentaler died this morning. Important figure in our history, no matter what we think about abortion.
Perhaps this deserves its own thread, but Henry Morgentaler died this morning. Important figure in our history, no matter what we think about abortion.
Mass deletion of Ontario gas plant emails by senior Liberal staff now a police investigation
TORONTO — The Ontario Provincial Police have launched a criminal probe into the destruction of emails about the cancellation of two gas plants by senior Liberal staff.
The province’s privacy watchdog issued a scathing report this week saying they broke the law by deleting emails on cancelled gas plants in Oakville and Mississauga.
OPP Commissioner Chris Lewis says he’s referred the matter to the Criminal Investigation Services and will interview people named in the report.
He says it’s hard to say how long it may take before police determine whether any criminal charges should be laid.
Premier Kathleen Wynne said Thursday that the mass email deletions by Dalton McGuinty’s staff were unacceptable and current staff have been made aware of their record retention obligations.
NDP energy critic Peter Tabuns said the party has formally requested that McGuinty appear at the justice committee hearings into cancelled gas plants in Mississauga and Oakville to explain the mass deletion of emails on the two projects.
“Dalton McGuinty needs to come back and answer this new information from the privacy commissioner,” said Tabuns.
Ontario’s information and privacy commissioner reported this week that McGuinty’s chief of staff, David Livingston, tried in January to find out how to permanently delete the electronic records from government databases.
“His chief of staff asked for information to destroy all the records on computers, and frankly we need to know did (McGuinty) tell him to do that,” said Tabuns.
Even though McGuinty left the premier’s office in late January, he remains the MPP for Ottawa South, but he has only shown up in the legislature twice this year, for votes on the minority government’s Throne Speech and the budget motion.
Sitting members can’t be compelled to testify at committee, but Tabuns said he expects Premier Kathleen Wynne to force the former premier to show up.
McGuinty’s office said Friday that he was not available to comment, and declined to answer questions on whether or not he would agree to testify about the deleted emails.
Wynne’s office said she has been very clear about wanting to be open and transparent on the gas plants files, and noted both the current and former premier had already made appearances at the justice committee hearings.
However, a statement Friday from the premier’s office did not say if she would compel McGuinty to make a second committee appearance.
The opposition parties say the emails were wiped out by the Liberals to try to cover up the true costs of cancelling the gas plants, which has grown to an estimated $585 million, well above the $230 million the government had claimed.
The Progressive Conservatives, meanwhile, confirmed they had asked the OPP to investigate the deletion of the emails as theft of government property.
“We’re here to stand up for the taxpayers of Ontario and we have to know how much this is going to cost,” said PC critic Monte McNaughton.
“Whoever covered this up, quite frankly should go to jail.”
In addition to McGuinty and Livingston, Tabuns said the NDP also want the committee to hear from several other senior Liberals whose email accounts were deleted, including Craig MacLennan, the former chief of staff to the minister of energy.
What a crooked government ... glad to see the NDP propping them up. Does this make them culpable as well? What makes the NDP think they are the ones who should decide if the liberals are good government or not?
I love this ... "Even though McGuinty left the premier’s office in late January, he remains the MPP for Ottawa South, but he has only shown up in the legislature twice this year, for votes on the minority government’s Throne Speech and the budget motion."
But I'm Sure he's collecting his full pay.
I have certain rules I live by ... My First Rule ... I don't believe anything the government tells me ... George Carlin
"Life Is What Happens To You When Your Busy Making Other Plans" John Lennon
But if Harper and Ford built you windmills all over the country you'd give them passing grades, even though every politician and every party is questionable.
I have certain rules I live by ... My First Rule ... I don't believe anything the government tells me ... George Carlin
"Life Is What Happens To You When Your Busy Making Other Plans" John Lennon
But if Harper and Ford built you windmills all over the country you'd give them passing grades, even though every politician and every party is questionable.
i'm not sure what you are getting at here and what precipitated this ...
yeah - i don't like either ... i think i have legitimate reasons for why ... what's your point? ... building windmills isn't everything to me ...
But if Harper and Ford built you windmills all over the country you'd give them passing grades, even though every politician and every party is questionable.
Actually, in the US, everyone loves wind turbines until they live near them, at which point everyone gets angry again. The same thing would probably happen here.
With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be careful. Strive to be happy. ~ Desiderata
But if Harper and Ford built you windmills all over the country you'd give them passing grades, even though every politician and every party is questionable.
Actually, in the US, everyone loves wind turbines until they live near them, at which point everyone gets angry again. The same thing would probably happen here.
It has happened here in Ontario ... Many rural people are upset ... The only ones who aren't are the farmers who receive huge cheques.
Still trying to figure out what that windmill down by the lake in Toronto.
I have certain rules I live by ... My First Rule ... I don't believe anything the government tells me ... George Carlin
"Life Is What Happens To You When Your Busy Making Other Plans" John Lennon
Still trying to figure out what that windmill down by the lake in Toronto.
it is generating electricity ...
granted the project is somewhat symbolic in that it only generates enough electricity for about 100 homes a year or a million kwh ... but it's also doing is combating myths ... it is very quiet ... it's not massacring birds and no one is getting sick living near it ... it serves the purpose of being educational as i used to run tours of the turbine ... what better way to disprove some myths than to build one in a downtown urban environment ...
it is also based on a for profit company which funded the project and offers dividends to its shareholders ... some of those shares were donated to the foodbank and other charities where they are getting money out if ...
the turbine also displaces almost 400 tons of carbon every year ... it's something ...
of course they will, she knows the ndp will never govern ontario again ... this is the only way she has any power ... ridiculous ... of course she could have done the right thing, not back the budget and let the people decide.
Gas plant controversy: NDP will still back Liberal budget despite email deletion scandal
The Liberals’ budget is set to pass Tuesday despite Progressive Conservative attempts to shame the New Democrats into defeating it over the gas-plant email controversy.
Conservative MPP Vic Fedeli charged that the NDP is being hypocritical by backing the minority government’s spending plan instead of triggering a July election over the $585-million power-plant debacle.
“(NDP Leader) Andrea Horwath calls them liars and corrupt in the morning and supports their budget in the afternoon,” Fedeli (Nipissing) said Monday.
“I don’t understand that motivation,” he said, noting Ontario Provincial Police are now looking into the Liberals’ deletion of emails related to the plants in Mississauga and Oakville that were cancelled for political reasons.
“If they’re corrupt as we all agree they are then we have to call them on the carpet for that.”
Horwath countered that “the Tories are only looking after their own interests,” while the New Democrats are concerned about the greater good.
She said that’s why her party ensured the Liberal budget reduced auto-insurance premiums by 15 per cent, improved home-care health services, boosted youth jobs, and contained new accountability measures.
“The caucus is pretty proud of the work we’ve been able to do,” she said, adding it was the NDP that sparked Information and Privacy Commissioner Ann Cavoukian’s report last week decrying the deleted emails.
Horwath pointed out the New Democrats also forced the Liberals to create an independent financial accountability office to oversee government spending and increasing transparency.
“It’s a layer of scrutiny and accountability that will be there not just with this government but with every government going forward,” she said, calling the budget watchdog “a huge gain for Ontarians.”
Finance Minister Charles Sousa said the passing of the budget Tuesday afternoon would send a positive signal to credit-rating agencies.
“They want stability, they want to make sure that we’re on our plan,” said Sousa, stressing “it’s critical” to enact the spending plan, which will likely be the final order of business before the legislature rises until September.
“We have a number of items in the budget that are time sensitive.”
If the NDP had not backed the minority Liberals’ fiscal blueprint, Ontario would have been plunged into a summer election.
Tory MPP Rob Leone (Cambridge) said such a vote is needed to clear the air at Queen’s Park and “let the people of Ontario finally have their say on whether this scandal-plagued government should continue.”
Officials in former premier Dalton McGuinty’s administration were criticized by Cavoukian last week for illegally destroying emails pertinent to the power plants.
That led to the Tories contacting the OPP on Friday and McGuinty, who remains Ottawa South MPP, issuing a statement insisting he knew nothing about the destruction of any records.
Wynne reminded the house Monday that things have changed since she succeeded him in February.
“We have taken steps to make sure that political staff are aware of their responsibilities,” the rookie premier said.
“There has been mandatory training put in place, as I’ve said. We have changed the protocols around the retention of information.”
I have certain rules I live by ... My First Rule ... I don't believe anything the government tells me ... George Carlin
"Life Is What Happens To You When Your Busy Making Other Plans" John Lennon
But if Harper and Ford built you windmills all over the country you'd give them passing grades, even though every politician and every party is questionable.
i'm not sure what you are getting at here and what precipitated this ...
yeah - i don't like either ... i think i have legitimate reasons for why ... what's your point? ... building windmills isn't everything to me ...
Because you gave McGuinty a pass and he and his government were/are buried knee deep in corruption ... the only thing I can figure is he built windmills ... , it was meant to be more humorous than it was apparently taken .
I have certain rules I live by ... My First Rule ... I don't believe anything the government tells me ... George Carlin
"Life Is What Happens To You When Your Busy Making Other Plans" John Lennon
Still trying to figure out what that windmill down by the lake in Toronto.
it is generating electricity ...
granted the project is somewhat symbolic in that it only generates enough electricity for about 100 homes a year or a million kwh ... but it's also doing is combating myths ... it is very quiet ... it's not massacring birds and no one is getting sick living near it ... it serves the purpose of being educational as i used to run tours of the turbine ... what better way to disprove some myths than to build one in a downtown urban environment ...
it is also based on a for profit company which funded the project and offers dividends to its shareholders ... some of those shares were donated to the foodbank and other charities where they are getting money out if ...
the turbine also displaces almost 400 tons of carbon every year ... it's something ...
Why did they stop with one ... why didn't they place 400 or so along the lakeshore or in the lake like they tried to do down here.
and improperly placed they can be harmful to migrating birds. they tried to place some in lake erie and the place they were to place them was in the path of migratory birds ... or so the birders were chirping about.
either way not important enough of an issue to me.
I have certain rules I live by ... My First Rule ... I don't believe anything the government tells me ... George Carlin
"Life Is What Happens To You When Your Busy Making Other Plans" John Lennon
Because you gave McGuinty a pass and he and his government were/are buried knee deep in corruption ... the only thing I can figure is he built windmills ... , it was meant to be more humorous than it was apparently taken .
uhhh ... when did i give him a pass!? ... i've never even voted for the guy or any liberal for that matter ...
Why did they stop with one ... why didn't they place 400 or so along the lakeshore or in the lake like they tried to do down here.
and improperly placed they can be harmful to migrating birds. they tried to place some in lake erie and the place they were to place them was in the path of migratory birds ... or so the birders were chirping about.
either way not important enough of an issue to me.
the biggest obstacle for wind production was tapping into existing hydro lines ... there wasn't a lot of co-operation for small independent ventures like windshare (which is owned by the public) ... i bought a share and all the dividends we get, we donate ...
outside of a couple of key parts made in netherlands, the one at the CNE was all manufactured in ontario ... the reality is that we should be placing windmills everwhere we can ... even in migratory bird paths - you just shut them down for that period of time ... it's only gonna get windier over time with global warming ...
I'm thinking he's stepping down because shit was about to hit the fan...whoever they elect as leader will likely come from someone well connected within party circles...I'm sure Duncan will be running and he's about as old school liberal as you get.
Doesn't change anything "the damage is done". I am going to be more interested in the editorials and people's comment in regards to him proroguing the legislature. I remember when Harper did it people writing editorial columns had a field day...not to mention the people commenting in newspapers, online etc..
Of course the media will somehow spin it favourably for Dalton...even though it looks more like he's trying to protect the energy minister. Just for the record...I didn't care that Harper did it and it doesn't much bother me that Dalton's doing it...its a tool at their disposal and their just using it...i'm more interested to see how the media portrays it.
It shall be interesting times in Ontario...most likely spring election...
dude ... those are two different situations ... harper prorogued the gov't because he was going to have a vote of no-confidence ... mcguinty is doing it so there is time to elect a new leader ... what else is he supposed to do? ... continue to lead as a lame duck premier and ultimately get nothing done? ... that makes no sense ...
if it's duncan or bentley - it will pretty much be par for the course ...
i know you hate the guy but i would give him a C+ for his time ... ultimately, it is near impossible to govern in a way that is going to make everyone happy and people these days don't evaluate critically or objectively ...
C+ is pretty generous for a a guy/political party that cost the taxpayer in the neighbourhood of 600 million to save 2 seats.
I have certain rules I live by ... My First Rule ... I don't believe anything the government tells me ... George Carlin
"Life Is What Happens To You When Your Busy Making Other Plans" John Lennon
Why did they stop with one ... why didn't they place 400 or so along the lakeshore or in the lake like they tried to do down here.
and improperly placed they can be harmful to migrating birds. they tried to place some in lake erie and the place they were to place them was in the path of migratory birds ... or so the birders were chirping about.
either way not important enough of an issue to me.
the biggest obstacle for wind production was tapping into existing hydro lines ... there wasn't a lot of co-operation for small independent ventures like windshare (which is owned by the public) ... i bought a share and all the dividends we get, we donate ...
outside of a couple of key parts made in netherlands, the one at the CNE was all manufactured in ontario ... the reality is that we should be placing windmills everwhere we can ... even in migratory bird paths - you just shut them down for that period of time ... it's only gonna get windier over time with global warming ...
I'm not opposed to windmills. I'm opposed to how the government went about it.
I have certain rules I live by ... My First Rule ... I don't believe anything the government tells me ... George Carlin
"Life Is What Happens To You When Your Busy Making Other Plans" John Lennon
C+ is pretty generous for a a guy/political party that cost the taxpayer in the neighbourhood of 600 million to save 2 seats.
i guess C+ is technically a pass ... but i'm gonna judge on the overall outcome ... i think he inherited a mess ... i think he made progress in education, health care and trying to shift the economy to be a bit more green ... was he 100% successful? ... not even close but he made some inroads ... obviously, the gas plant thing and some strikes and the teachers thing are huge X's but you can't judge them on those things alone ...
C+ is pretty generous for a a guy/political party that cost the taxpayer in the neighbourhood of 600 million to save 2 seats.
i guess C+ is technically a pass ... but i'm gonna judge on the overall outcome ... i think he inherited a mess ... i think he made progress in education, health care and trying to shift the economy to be a bit more green ... was he 100% successful? ... not even close but he made some inroads ... obviously, the gas plant thing and some strikes and the teachers thing are huge X's but you can't judge them on those things alone ...
after 10-11 years no longer can the previous government be blamed.
just because one inherits a mess should not give anyone the right to leave the next person an even bigger mess.
our health care is no better today than it was 10 years, 15 years or 20 years ... except they wasted billions in ehealth, ornge etc. education ... want to impress me ... overhaul the system (take a look a the swiss system - lowest you unemployment rate), all they did was throw piles of cash at the teachers and the system, billions spent on green energy and most of those green energy jobs he was touting with his samsung deal never materialized and most of those green energy plants are no where near the production that was was being shouted from the roof top by the liberals.
This government has been disastrous ... they have run record deficits for what the last 4 years and wasted how many billions and the had the nerve to basically spend 600 million of taxpayer $$$$ to save 2 liberal seats.
I don't like any political parties but if this was Harris or Harper or Ford had done that ... never would have heard the end of it.
Politics is plain corrupt.
I have certain rules I live by ... My First Rule ... I don't believe anything the government tells me ... George Carlin
"Life Is What Happens To You When Your Busy Making Other Plans" John Lennon
I don't like any political parties but if this was Harris or Harper or Ford had done that ... never would have heard the end of it.
Politics is plain corrupt.
what? ... you calling me partisan? ... that's funny cuz when we first started having discussions you were as conservative as it gets ... i've never voted liberal in any provincial election nor federal as far as i can recall ...
if you think it's been a disaster ... that's your opinion ... i objectively feel it hasn't ... harris took us down the drain in a period of economic boom while mcguinty has had to reside over a global economic crisis ... it's not absolving him of his mistakes in any way but when one evaluates - they have to factor in the good too ...
I don't like any political parties but if this was Harris or Harper or Ford had done that ... never would have heard the end of it.
Politics is plain corrupt.
what? ... you calling me partisan? ... that's funny cuz when we first started having discussions you were as conservative as it gets ... i've never voted liberal in any provincial election nor federal as far as i can recall ...
if you think it's been a disaster ... that's your opinion ... i objectively feel it hasn't ... harris took us down the drain in a period of economic boom while mcguinty has had to reside over a global economic crisis ... it's not absolving him of his mistakes in any way but when one evaluates - they have to factor in the good too ...
Not really calling you partisan ... but when Harris ran a shitty government it's still being brought up. As far as I'm concerned every government in Ontario since the late 80's does not have much to be proud of.
Every government is going to have it's ups and down ... it's how those down time are dealt with and no government in Ontario did a particularly great job ... but Mcguinty is worst by far ... imo ... he had record tax revenues in his first term and spent every dime of of it ...
As far as me being a conservative ... I don't label myself and if were to I am definitely fiscally conservative. I've stated before imo government massive deficits are a bad a thing, in 10 years the liberals have nearly doubled Ontario's debt :fp:. All that money future governments are going to have to pay in debt repayment and servicing the debt is just going to be brutal. They were banking on the manufacturing recovering . Those revenues they enjoyed up till 2008 are likely gone for ever.
I have certain rules I live by ... My First Rule ... I don't believe anything the government tells me ... George Carlin
"Life Is What Happens To You When Your Busy Making Other Plans" John Lennon
Comments
http://www.chathamdailynews.ca/2013/05/ ... undraising
Review of documents filed in Trinity Global Support Foundation tax case shows big payments to insiders and millions spent on fundraising
Nearly $8 million raised for hungry school kids and to fight HIV/AIDs went into the pockets of Joe Fontana and fellow directors of his charity, the tax man says.
A government audit found with so much money going to benefit its directors and their businesses, and many more millions spent on fundraising and sunk into tax shelters, Trinity Global Support Foundation had strayed from its charitable purpose, court documents filed by the Canada Revenue Agency show.
Fontana, for instance, was paid $41,000 in “consulting fees” in 2009 and 2010 for the foundation he chaired, the documents reviewed by The Free Press say.
The CRA sought to lift the charitable registration Trinity relied on to issue an eye-popping $152 million in charitable receipts to donors in its last fiscal year.
Issuing that amount in tax receipts to Canadians anxious to reduce their taxes saw Trinity become the top-ranked private foundation in the country, with the total value issued at three times more than the second-ranked one.
In all, there are 86,000 charities in Canada. The tax agency didn’t mince words about what it thought about Trinity.
“The evidence,” the 2012 audit concluded, “demonstrates a preponderance of effort and resources devoted to non-charitable purposes.”
The audit and CRA letter yanking Trinity’s registration appear in documents filed with the federal court of appeal in Toronto, where Trinity fought the move to strip its charitable status, but lost.
In its audit of the foundation’s activities, the revenue agency referred to Trinity as an “organization,” rather than a charity or foundation.
It found Trinity invested and lost $7 million in an investment fund operated by Fontana’s boyhood chum Vince Ciccone, who founded Trinity in 2007.
“The organization was also found to have improperly paid over $865,000 to individuals and corporations related to the organization’s directors,” the CRA said in its Feb. 1, 2013 letter revoking Trinity’s charitable status.
The $865,000 was paid to its volunteer directors between 2008 and 2010 without proof such payments were legitimate, the agency said.
Fontana, then between his jobs as London MP and London mayor, was paid $41,000 in “consulting fees” related to public relations, communications, promotion, government relations and advisory services.
Fontana didn’t respond to a request for comment, referring questions to Trinity lawyer Duane Milot, who said he’d already responded to the CRA’s “unproven allegations” in court.
Fontana became a Trinity board member in 2008, when Ciccone asked him to join, and chairperson after Ciccone left in 2010 amidst securities charges related to his Ciccone Group.
Fontana and Ciccone were pals as youngsters in Timmins and later became partners in Advance Property Management in London. Fontana also appeared at investor seminars for Ciccone Group in recent years.
Fontana stepped down as Trinity chairperson late last year, but remains a board member.
The payments also included $325,000 apiece to Ciccone and board member Carmine Domenicucci for arranging a $7-million investment in Ciccone’s numbered company, 990509 Ontario Inc., and into GEMS Partnership, in which Ciccone and Domenicucci were shareholders.
Ciccone was paid another $25,625 for “management fees.”
Other payments included nearly $38,000 to Ciccone’s wife, Karen Thompson-Ciccone, for “consulting fees,” to Trinity vice-president Patrick Holmes $47,500 for “financial services” and to Fontana’s son, Ugo Joseph Fontana, $62,730 for “services as president.”
“Our audit has also revealed insufficient separation between the organization’s operations and the personal business and financial interests of those responsible for its operation,” said the letter outlining reasons for withdrawing Trinity’s charitable status.
Too much was spent on fundraising and plowed into tax shelters whose purpose is to help Canadians avoid paying taxes, the agency said. Neither is a charitable activity, the CRA ruled, and left too little for Trinity to pursue its stated goals of feeding hungry school kids through lunch and snack programs in Canada and to provide pharmaceuticals to fight HIV/AIDS in Africa and the Caribbean.
The money to directors, was paid to firms owned by them, such as Joe Fontana’s 719382 Ontario Ltd., noted Sherry Head, an auditor in the CRA’s charities directorate.
“There is no evidence provided during the audit to support any of the services allegedly provided by these corporations were provided to the organization,” Head reported April 10, 2012 to Trinity.
She noted the $7 million invested in Ciccone’s firm was lost when it went bankrupt, as the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) charged him with fraud and with misleading investors and securities regulators relating to $19 million.
“In the end, the poor decisions of the board, which appear to be more in support of its directors’ financial position than the pursuit of its charitable purpose, resulted in the organization losing these funds,” the auditor said.
She said it appeared Trinity had “structured its affairs for the private benefit of (tax shelters and) . . . its promoters and its directors.”
The fateful decisions to invest with Ciccone were made at meetings of the Trinity board in December 2008 and January 2009, when Ciccone declared an interest and stepped aside to have Fontana chair the meetings and call the votes to do so.
Also in the court file is a fateful September 2010 letter from Ciccone to Trinity saying: “We regretfully inform you that we are unable to pay out the interest due and the principle (sic) at this time or in the future.”
In its defence, Trinity lawyer Milot argued in court and in written submissions the foundation had felt it “prudent” to invest with Ciccone because the return promised “would have allowed the foundation to properly fund its other programs.”
“Any suggestion that Ciccone Group Inc. and the foundation were working together in this alleged (OSC) fraud is completely unfounded,” Milot wrote.
In fact, he said, Trinity has helped the RCMP, which has investigated Ciccone and Ciccone Group and will continue to do so.
“The current status of the investigation is confidential,” Milot advised court.
Milot noted Trinity was among 170 creditors of the Ciccone Group.
THE CASE AGAINST TRINITY
The federal tax collector never made public its beef with Trinity Global Support Foundation.
But when Trinity challenged the CRA’s move to lift its charitable registration in the federal court of appeal, the CRA’s audit and letter of revocation were put on the public record.
In the end Trinity lost its legal challenge of the CRA decision, but left behind in court several books of documents, correspondence and other material filed by lawyers on both sides of the dispute.
Five areas of “non-compliance” with Canada’s charity law were outlined by the agency in an April 10, 2012, letter to the charity. They were:
- Failure to devote resources to charitable activities.
- Failure to accept valid gifts.
- Failure to issue tax receipts according to the rules.
- Failure to maintain or provide adequate books and records.
- Failure to file an accurate charity tax return.
The CRA further alleged Trinity spent too much on fundraising and to tax shelters, noting “fundraising is not a charitable activity.”
Trinity’s lawyer, Duane Milot, argued losing its registration was too strong a penalty but Justice David Near upheld the CRA action in yanking the Trinity designation.
Milot said without being able to issue receipts, the foundation would run out of money and shut down in nine months.
And he said he expects to appeal Trinity’s loss to the Supreme Court of Canada but will need permission from the court to do that.
ABOUT TAX SHELTERS
- Such organizations may, or may not, be registered with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).
- They work with charities, and charge them a fee, to distribute things such as pharmaceuticals, educational software and other gifts.
- The value they place on donated items produces further receipts to charities, drawing the ire of the CRA which says the value of goods is often inflated.
- Donors are often provided with another receipt reflecting a higher value of the gift.
- Shelters promote themselves to donors as a way for donors to avoid paying taxes.
- For Trinity Global Support Foundation, an advertisement by a London financial agency touted that a $500 donation could produce $27,000 in tax receipts.
- The CRA said in court documents that Global Learning Gifting Initiative, the last of three tax shelters with which Trinity partnered, was a “sham” donation program with inflated values.
- The CRA has warned that donations to tax shelters will be audited.
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"Life Is What Happens To You When Your Busy Making Other Plans" John Lennon
http://www.macdonaldlaurier.ca/files/pdf/2013.01.05-MLI-Canada_FirstNations_BLAND_vWEB.pdf
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2013/05/201358113923656697.html
Report: Canada could see indigenous uprising
Former military official says poverty and anger in indigenous communities mean conditions for an "insurgency" are ripe.
Chris Arsenault Last Modified: 14 May 2013 10:21
Living standards for indigenous people on par with "third world" countries, buttressed by a large population of unemployed young men in a "warrior cohort", and easy-to-target economic infrastructure, all mean Canada has conditions for a potential indigenous "insurgency".
That's according to a new report penned by a former Canadian military officer for the MacDonald Laurier Institute, a think-tank supported by corporate executives.
"For many Aboriginal people in Canada, but especially for First Nations women and children, life on-reserve is dreary, dark and dangerous," wrote Douglas Bland in the report, Canada and the first Nations: Cooperation or Conflict? "Social fractionalisation significantly increases the risk of social conflict. The phenomenon provides motives for an insurgency," read the report, issued in May.
Bland refused interview requests from Al Jazeera, but conclusions from the Queen's University professor emeritus and 30-year military veteran have worried the Canadian establishment, especially in light of indigenous-led protests associated with the Idle No More movement, and Canada's increasing dependence on natural resource extraction.
'Ongoing injustice'
"The Canadian right-wing establishment is seizing on this to justify its own agenda of stricter controls and the continued criminalisation of native people who defend their rights," Taiaiake Alfred, chair of the centre for indigenous governance at the University of Victoria, and one of Canada's most influential aboriginal intellectuals, told Al Jazeera. "The positive elements of Canadian society - progressive values and social justice - are founded on the ongoing injustice of land theft and murder of indigenous people."
In November, Paul Martin, Canada's former prime minister and a business tycoon, echoed Alfred's comments, albeit in a softer tone. "We have never admitted to ourselves that we were, and still are, a colonial power," he said.
One of the world's most developed countries, Canada is home to about 1.2 million indigenous people out of a population of 34.5 million. The indigenous population is rising faster than other demographic groups, despite drastically higher rates of poverty, incarceration and substance abuse.
If indigenous Canadians were ranked as a country according to the United Nations Human Development Index, which measures living standards and life expectancy, they would have social outcomes comparable to residents of Kazakhstan and Albania.
Across Canada's prairies, the heartland of the country's agricultural industry and a centre for mining, about 42 percent of the indigenous population will be under the age of 30 by 2016, more than twice the youth rate in the non-indigenous community.
"The fact that Canada's natural wealth flows unfairly from Aboriginal lands and peoples to non-Aboriginal Canadians is a long-standing and justifiable grievance," the report said.
A large number of poorly educated, unemployed young men - a "warrior cohort", as Bland put it - provide fertile recruits for militant groups, the report says.
Using a formula first developed by researchers at Oxford University, Bland argued that the "feasibility" of unrest, rather than just root causes, could determine outcomes. Most of Canada's resource industries, including mines, dams and oil facilities, are located on land claimed by indigenous people - and attacking such facilities is easily feasible, the report said.
Comprising about four percent of the population, indigenous people make up 23 percent of Canada's prisoners, a 43 percent increase during the five years prior to 2013, according to a government report released in March.
There is near universal acceptance that the status quo is unacceptable, but across Canada's coffee shops, factories - and even within the MacDonald Laurier Institute - there is no consensus on the causes.
Other solutions
In a separate report for the institute, former government senior economic adviser Brian Lee Crowley and professor Kevin Coates paint an optimistic picture, far removed from fears over blockades, sabotage or a full-blown uprising.
"Blockades may be news," they wrote, "but the new joint ventures, long-term training programmes and successful indigenous businesses are what will reshape our common future."
They argue that indigenous communities are ready to hit a "sweet spot" as a series of Supreme Court decisions on long-standing treaties will give them a larger stake - environmental and financial - in natural resource development.
Other intellectuals, however, say support for mines, dams and other megaprojects with large environmental costs won't help get people out of poverty, and are contrary to indigenous support for sustainability.
"Crowley's argument is what the government has been saying for the last 150 years; historical experience has shown that it doesn't work," Peter Kulchyski, professor of native studies at the University of Manitoba, told Al Jazeera. "The communities that are worst off tend to be close to these resource developments … These partnerships between natural resource exploitation companies and First Nations generate some cash for the reserve elite, but not much in terms of employment opportunities for average people."
Especially in northern Canada, many indigenous people still depend on hunting and trapping for their food, and Kulchyski says this way of life should be preserved through land management deals, the sale of meat and eco-tourism projects rather than large-scale developments - which often imperil the land.
Financial confusion
On reserves, the territory of indigenous Canadians, property rights function differently than in other parts of the country, making it difficult for residents to buy and sell their homes or land because the territories are often administered through a form of communal property law.
Outside large-scale resource extraction, a lack of property rights make business development difficult, conservatives argue, contending that free markets are needed to end poverty.
Many Canadians blame indigenous leaders for the poverty of their communities, arguing corruption is rampant on reserves. Conservative Canadians often say indigenous people should leave their traditional territories on remote lands where employment opportunities are scarce and move to cities where jobs, training and education are more easily accessible.
After going on a hunger strike and making international headlines in an attempt to draw attention to the dire poverty faced by residents of Attawapiskat, a northern indigenous community, Chief Teresa Spence faced insinuations of mismanagement in January, after the government leaked an audit showing accounting gaps in more than $100m of federal transfers to the community.
Many Canadians say indigenous people receive too much money from the federal government, but Kulchyski says that isn't true. "The money comes to them from a separate envelope, so that's where the confusion comes from," he said. "They are actually getting less money than the rest of us [on a per capita basis] and that is reflected in the horrifying living conditions people are dealing with."
Bland's Laurier Institute Report comes on the heels of renewed interest in indigenous issues from Canadian society, following Chief Spence's hunger strike and the Idle No More movement, a campaign driven by social media and popular protest to draw attention to poverty and marginalisation.
Professor Alfred, who fought as a US marine before joining academia, believes Idle No More is a positive step for education, but its ability to change fundamental social structures is limited. He said he thinks recent reports about a possible "insurgency" are vastly overblown and based on poor research; part of a political ploy by another ex-military man to gain more funding for a broader crackdown against dissenters.
"As an activist, I am hoping and praying for more militant action," Alfred said. "But as a political analyst, there is no objective evidence that will happen. As it stands, all the evidence points to continued colonialism."
Fuck. :(
http://www.thestar.com/news/city_hall/2 ... andal.html
They never resign. The whimper, weep and cry in the face of a scandal like the little rat, Gord Campbell, did after getting an impaired charge in Hawaii. Criminal charges never stopped weasel boy from carrying on with his agenda.
Then they wait a week or two to let some time elapse (they think that all the stupid commoners will forget by then) before continuing their ways to treat their friends in big business to a grand old time- while simultaneously sticking it to the blue collar man.
You are probably right though: we won't have to wait for too long before Clark does something unbelievable. As proven in these polls though, it won't make a difference because perhaps these guys are correct about the commoners- we have really short memories.
Ya it would/does explain a lot.
-
(Just saw the report on CNN)
Didn't Glen Clark resign? It was in the 90s.... some of that decade is a bit of a blur to me. :P
"Life Is What Happens To You When Your Busy Making Other Plans" John Lennon
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/abortion-rights-crusader-henry-morgentaler-revered-and-hated-dead-at-90/article12221564/
Mass deletion of Ontario gas plant emails by senior Liberal staff now a police investigation
TORONTO — The Ontario Provincial Police have launched a criminal probe into the destruction of emails about the cancellation of two gas plants by senior Liberal staff.
The province’s privacy watchdog issued a scathing report this week saying they broke the law by deleting emails on cancelled gas plants in Oakville and Mississauga.
OPP Commissioner Chris Lewis says he’s referred the matter to the Criminal Investigation Services and will interview people named in the report.
He says it’s hard to say how long it may take before police determine whether any criminal charges should be laid.
Premier Kathleen Wynne said Thursday that the mass email deletions by Dalton McGuinty’s staff were unacceptable and current staff have been made aware of their record retention obligations.
NDP energy critic Peter Tabuns said the party has formally requested that McGuinty appear at the justice committee hearings into cancelled gas plants in Mississauga and Oakville to explain the mass deletion of emails on the two projects.
“Dalton McGuinty needs to come back and answer this new information from the privacy commissioner,” said Tabuns.
Ontario’s information and privacy commissioner reported this week that McGuinty’s chief of staff, David Livingston, tried in January to find out how to permanently delete the electronic records from government databases.
“His chief of staff asked for information to destroy all the records on computers, and frankly we need to know did (McGuinty) tell him to do that,” said Tabuns.
Even though McGuinty left the premier’s office in late January, he remains the MPP for Ottawa South, but he has only shown up in the legislature twice this year, for votes on the minority government’s Throne Speech and the budget motion.
Sitting members can’t be compelled to testify at committee, but Tabuns said he expects Premier Kathleen Wynne to force the former premier to show up.
McGuinty’s office said Friday that he was not available to comment, and declined to answer questions on whether or not he would agree to testify about the deleted emails.
Wynne’s office said she has been very clear about wanting to be open and transparent on the gas plants files, and noted both the current and former premier had already made appearances at the justice committee hearings.
However, a statement Friday from the premier’s office did not say if she would compel McGuinty to make a second committee appearance.
The opposition parties say the emails were wiped out by the Liberals to try to cover up the true costs of cancelling the gas plants, which has grown to an estimated $585 million, well above the $230 million the government had claimed.
The Progressive Conservatives, meanwhile, confirmed they had asked the OPP to investigate the deletion of the emails as theft of government property.
“We’re here to stand up for the taxpayers of Ontario and we have to know how much this is going to cost,” said PC critic Monte McNaughton.
“Whoever covered this up, quite frankly should go to jail.”
In addition to McGuinty and Livingston, Tabuns said the NDP also want the committee to hear from several other senior Liberals whose email accounts were deleted, including Craig MacLennan, the former chief of staff to the minister of energy.
What a crooked government ... glad to see the NDP propping them up. Does this make them culpable as well? What makes the NDP think they are the ones who should decide if the liberals are good government or not?
I love this ... "Even though McGuinty left the premier’s office in late January, he remains the MPP for Ottawa South, but he has only shown up in the legislature twice this year, for votes on the minority government’s Throne Speech and the budget motion."
But I'm Sure he's collecting his full pay.
"Life Is What Happens To You When Your Busy Making Other Plans" John Lennon
"Life Is What Happens To You When Your Busy Making Other Plans" John Lennon
i'm not sure what you are getting at here and what precipitated this ...
yeah - i don't like either ... i think i have legitimate reasons for why ... what's your point? ... building windmills isn't everything to me ...
It has happened here in Ontario ... Many rural people are upset ... The only ones who aren't are the farmers who receive huge cheques.
Still trying to figure out what that windmill down by the lake in Toronto.
"Life Is What Happens To You When Your Busy Making Other Plans" John Lennon
it is generating electricity ...
granted the project is somewhat symbolic in that it only generates enough electricity for about 100 homes a year or a million kwh ... but it's also doing is combating myths ... it is very quiet ... it's not massacring birds and no one is getting sick living near it ... it serves the purpose of being educational as i used to run tours of the turbine ... what better way to disprove some myths than to build one in a downtown urban environment ...
it is also based on a for profit company which funded the project and offers dividends to its shareholders ... some of those shares were donated to the foodbank and other charities where they are getting money out if ...
the turbine also displaces almost 400 tons of carbon every year ... it's something ...
Gas plant controversy: NDP will still back Liberal budget despite email deletion scandal
http://www.thestar.com/news/queenspark/ ... andal.html
The Liberals’ budget is set to pass Tuesday despite Progressive Conservative attempts to shame the New Democrats into defeating it over the gas-plant email controversy.
Conservative MPP Vic Fedeli charged that the NDP is being hypocritical by backing the minority government’s spending plan instead of triggering a July election over the $585-million power-plant debacle.
“(NDP Leader) Andrea Horwath calls them liars and corrupt in the morning and supports their budget in the afternoon,” Fedeli (Nipissing) said Monday.
“I don’t understand that motivation,” he said, noting Ontario Provincial Police are now looking into the Liberals’ deletion of emails related to the plants in Mississauga and Oakville that were cancelled for political reasons.
“If they’re corrupt as we all agree they are then we have to call them on the carpet for that.”
Horwath countered that “the Tories are only looking after their own interests,” while the New Democrats are concerned about the greater good.
She said that’s why her party ensured the Liberal budget reduced auto-insurance premiums by 15 per cent, improved home-care health services, boosted youth jobs, and contained new accountability measures.
“The caucus is pretty proud of the work we’ve been able to do,” she said, adding it was the NDP that sparked Information and Privacy Commissioner Ann Cavoukian’s report last week decrying the deleted emails.
Horwath pointed out the New Democrats also forced the Liberals to create an independent financial accountability office to oversee government spending and increasing transparency.
“It’s a layer of scrutiny and accountability that will be there not just with this government but with every government going forward,” she said, calling the budget watchdog “a huge gain for Ontarians.”
Finance Minister Charles Sousa said the passing of the budget Tuesday afternoon would send a positive signal to credit-rating agencies.
“They want stability, they want to make sure that we’re on our plan,” said Sousa, stressing “it’s critical” to enact the spending plan, which will likely be the final order of business before the legislature rises until September.
“We have a number of items in the budget that are time sensitive.”
If the NDP had not backed the minority Liberals’ fiscal blueprint, Ontario would have been plunged into a summer election.
Tory MPP Rob Leone (Cambridge) said such a vote is needed to clear the air at Queen’s Park and “let the people of Ontario finally have their say on whether this scandal-plagued government should continue.”
Officials in former premier Dalton McGuinty’s administration were criticized by Cavoukian last week for illegally destroying emails pertinent to the power plants.
That led to the Tories contacting the OPP on Friday and McGuinty, who remains Ottawa South MPP, issuing a statement insisting he knew nothing about the destruction of any records.
Wynne reminded the house Monday that things have changed since she succeeded him in February.
“We have taken steps to make sure that political staff are aware of their responsibilities,” the rookie premier said.
“There has been mandatory training put in place, as I’ve said. We have changed the protocols around the retention of information.”
"Life Is What Happens To You When Your Busy Making Other Plans" John Lennon
Because you gave McGuinty a pass and he and his government were/are buried knee deep in corruption ... the only thing I can figure is he built windmills ...
"Life Is What Happens To You When Your Busy Making Other Plans" John Lennon
Why did they stop with one ... why didn't they place 400 or so along the lakeshore or in the lake like they tried to do down here.
and improperly placed they can be harmful to migrating birds. they tried to place some in lake erie and the place they were to place them was in the path of migratory birds ... or so the birders were chirping about.
either way not important enough of an issue to me.
"Life Is What Happens To You When Your Busy Making Other Plans" John Lennon
uhhh ... when did i give him a pass!? ... i've never even voted for the guy or any liberal for that matter ...
i do like windmills tho ...
the biggest obstacle for wind production was tapping into existing hydro lines ... there wasn't a lot of co-operation for small independent ventures like windshare (which is owned by the public) ... i bought a share and all the dividends we get, we donate ...
outside of a couple of key parts made in netherlands, the one at the CNE was all manufactured in ontario ... the reality is that we should be placing windmills everwhere we can ... even in migratory bird paths - you just shut them down for that period of time ... it's only gonna get windier over time with global warming ...
C+ is pretty generous for a a guy/political party that cost the taxpayer in the neighbourhood of 600 million to save 2 seats.
"Life Is What Happens To You When Your Busy Making Other Plans" John Lennon
I'm not opposed to windmills. I'm opposed to how the government went about it.
"Life Is What Happens To You When Your Busy Making Other Plans" John Lennon
i guess C+ is technically a pass ... but i'm gonna judge on the overall outcome ... i think he inherited a mess ... i think he made progress in education, health care and trying to shift the economy to be a bit more green ... was he 100% successful? ... not even close but he made some inroads ... obviously, the gas plant thing and some strikes and the teachers thing are huge X's but you can't judge them on those things alone ...
after 10-11 years no longer can the previous government be blamed.
just because one inherits a mess should not give anyone the right to leave the next person an even bigger mess.
our health care is no better today than it was 10 years, 15 years or 20 years ... except they wasted billions in ehealth, ornge etc. education ... want to impress me ... overhaul the system (take a look a the swiss system - lowest you unemployment rate), all they did was throw piles of cash at the teachers and the system, billions spent on green energy and most of those green energy jobs he was touting with his samsung deal never materialized and most of those green energy plants are no where near the production that was was being shouted from the roof top by the liberals.
This government has been disastrous ... they have run record deficits for what the last 4 years and wasted how many billions and the had the nerve to basically spend 600 million of taxpayer $$$$ to save 2 liberal seats.
I don't like any political parties but if this was Harris or Harper or Ford had done that ... never would have heard the end of it.
Politics is plain corrupt.
"Life Is What Happens To You When Your Busy Making Other Plans" John Lennon
what? ... you calling me partisan? ... that's funny cuz when we first started having discussions you were as conservative as it gets ... i've never voted liberal in any provincial election nor federal as far as i can recall ...
if you think it's been a disaster ... that's your opinion ... i objectively feel it hasn't ... harris took us down the drain in a period of economic boom while mcguinty has had to reside over a global economic crisis ... it's not absolving him of his mistakes in any way but when one evaluates - they have to factor in the good too ...
Not really calling you partisan ... but when Harris ran a shitty government it's still being brought up. As far as I'm concerned every government in Ontario since the late 80's does not have much to be proud of.
Every government is going to have it's ups and down ... it's how those down time are dealt with and no government in Ontario did a particularly great job ... but Mcguinty is worst by far ... imo ... he had record tax revenues in his first term and spent every dime of of it ...
As far as me being a conservative ... I don't label myself and if were to I am definitely fiscally conservative. I've stated before imo government massive deficits are a bad a thing, in 10 years the liberals have nearly doubled Ontario's debt :fp:. All that money future governments are going to have to pay in debt repayment and servicing the debt is just going to be brutal. They were banking on the manufacturing recovering
"Life Is What Happens To You When Your Busy Making Other Plans" John Lennon
http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/201 ... d-silence/
good riddance
"Life Is What Happens To You When Your Busy Making Other Plans" John Lennon