McGuinty speaks on Niagara Parks manager’s expenses

Premier Dalton McGuinty has weighed in on the lavish spending by a former official with the Niagara Parks Commission.

A Globe and Mail investigation revealed former marketing manager Joel Noden racked up $400,000 in expenses, on hotels, flights and meals. Tuesday, Tourism Minister Michael Chan said the Niagara Parks Commission has been a completely self-funding agency, operating at no cost to the Ontario taxpayer. McGuinty says regardless of where the money comes from — agencies have to follow the rules.

“These may not be taxpayer dollars but there are rules that we have in place that govern our agencies that have to do with expenditures and we’ve had those rules in place for some time now we expect that everybody will follow those rules.”

Chan says all the charges were made before new government rules came in last year that cracked down on expenses.