• Final Oakville price tag well above estimates, costing $1.1 billion, not $40 million originally claimed by Liberal government
• AG report shows the plant would have never been built anyway
• Liberals paid out contract to TransCanada unnecessarily

TORONTO, ON: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) is gobsmacked at the astronomical cost of relocating the Oakville gas plant and the shady details behind the deal with TransCanada to cancel the contract.

“The final figure in the AG report is almost 30 times more than the Liberal’s original estimate,” said CTF’s Ontario Director Candice Malcolm. “It is unacceptable for a government to mislead taxpayers in this way.”

Auditor General’s report into the cancelled Oakville gas plant also shows that the contact would have expired at no cost to taxpayers. The Liberal government, however, paid out the contract so they could say with certainty the plant wouldn’t be built during the election.

“The government paid TransCanada, essentially, to keep everything quiet going into an election and to keep taxpayers in the dark,” continued Malcolm. “This report confirms our worst suspicions about our provincial government and their disregard toward the hard-working taxpayers of this province.”

The Auditor General’s report confirms that taxpayers are on the hook for up to $1.1 billion to cover the costs to cancel the gas plant in Oakville, and not the $40 million claimed by the Liberal government.

“Premier Kathleen Wynne was the election chair who signed off on this Liberal decision, and now she’s trying to use Jedi mind tricks to convince us she is on our side. Taxpayers don’t buy it,” concluded Malcolm.

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