Premier Ford to launch a special investigation into how the Liberals spent money

Premier Doug Ford is out to solve what he calls the biggest government scandal in a generation.

“What we know today is that Kathleen Wynne and the Liberals left Ontario with a massive, massive $15-billion deficit”

Ford announced that he’s assembling a special committee that will look how the Liberals allegedly covered up their extra spending. The committee will have the power to call witnesses to compel documents and to gather evidence.

Former Premier Kathleen Wynne says these numbers aren’t new. Prior to the election, the Auditor General revealed that the Liberals ran a deficit around $12-billion due to improper calculations related to the fair hydro plan and two Ontario Pension Plans.

Wynne says Ford is just setting the stage slashing services.

“He’s creating that context for cuts we kinda knew he was going to do it but he’s doing it in a particularly vicious, personal and misleading way” she says.

In Ontario, the Auditor General always reviews the government’s finances prior to an election. A law put in after the Dalton McGuinty Liberals took over for Ernie Eves’ Tories in 2003. Then, the Liberals thought they were being handed a $2-3-billion deficit, instead it ballooned to nearly $6-billion upon review.

The opposition feel that if the committee is looking into government transparency, both past and current offices should be under the microscope. Andrea Horwath believes that the Progressive Conservatives should be in the review as well, for what they have done so far.

Premier Ford didn’t take any questions from reporters following his announcement, but Kathleen Wynne has one: Where are the Liberal members of the committee? The nine person committee consists of six PC’s and three NDP’s.