Back to business at Queen’s Park as fall session begins

(Updated)

A mostly empty office building bailed out by the province — and the prospect of higher beer prices. Those are what brought out the barbs at Queen’s Park Monday as MPP’s were back to work for the fall session.

The Liberals are back with a majority and you get a sense of that confidence in them at Queen’s Park. Opposition members are hammering at them as much as ever, but now the Liberals don’t need any support to push forward with their agenda.

The province recently gave more than 300 million dollars in bailout loans to the MARS complex — which is meant to house and nurture high-tech start-ups. The second phase was completed last year, and is still 70 per cent empty.

Randy Hillier, PC MPP: “It’s gotta be the only building in Toronto that’s losing money in commercial real estate.”

Opposition members say this is the next gas plant scandal, and they want to know details of the deal.

Jim Wilson, Interim Liberal Leader: “Don’t repeat the mistakes of the past. You’ve got two police probes on now. Give us the documents we want.”

The government says MaRS has been successful, and will be again.

Premier Kathleen Wynne: “We’re not going to undermine those business transactions.”

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath: “They use any opportunity to prevent info from coming forward. It’s shameful.”

Conservatives and NDP members are digging for information on the Liberal plans for crown corporations, like Ontario Hydro and the LCBO.

Premier Wynne: “We were clear during the election that we would look at assets to make sure they were working at optimal capacity.”

A study commissioned by the Liberals doesn’t recommend selling the assets. But the Tories say we should expect changes.

Jim Wilson: “They’re going to squeeze money out of the assets but they didn’t put all the options on the table. The only option left is fire people or raise prices on alcohol, electricity, beer.”

Jim Wilson is interim leader of the Tories. The party will choose a successor for Tim Hudak next May. The latest MPP to indicate interest in the job is Lisa MacLeod. She joins Christine Elliott, Vic Fedeli, Monte McNaughton and Patrick Brown in that race.