Hydro contracts haunt Ontario Tory race

Toronto Sun - February 29, 2004
By Christina Blizzard

Right after the Sun revealed shocking details of the lavish expenses racked up by executives at Ontario Power Generation, I got a couple of gloating e-mails from people pointing out that the Sun, in general, and I in particular, have supported the Tories over the past few years.

Fact is, though, it's those of us who have generally supported a small-c conservative philosophy of fiscal restraint and accountability who feel most betrayed by allegations of cronyism in awarding members of the Tory inner circle lucrative, untendered contracts to the tune of $6 million.

Jaime Watt, Leslie Noble, Tom Long and Paul Rhodes, all long-time members of the Tory inner circle, were paid hefty chunks of cash to provide communications advice and other services to Hydro One. Long's company, Egon Zehnder, was paid $83,000 to headhunt Deb Hutton as vice-president of Hydro One. Hutton, who is married to Tory MPP Tim Hudak, was a veteran of former premier Mike Harris's inner circle at the time she was recruited to the giant utility.

These revelations have cast a black shadow over the race to replace Tory leader Ernie Eves. Watt, who is presently working for federal Tory leadership hopeful Belinda Stronach, co-chaired Jim Flaherty's bid to replace Harris. Flaherty, a former finance minister and deputy premier at the end of Harris's government, warned me last week that we should not rush to judgment about these revelations.

"People are entitled to not have their reputations damaged without a review of what went on and an opportunity to say, 'I did this work, it was work that I was paid for and the pay was reasonable,'" Flaherty said. And that's fair enough.

All the same, there's a strong feeling in the wake of all these revelations that the Tories must clean house, must purge the hangers-on if they are to have any chance of regrouping before the next election.

Flaherty says that since the leadership campaign isn't up and running, he doesn't have an organization in place. So we can't tell who he's counting on to back him this time around. But he says he won't tolerate any sleazy practices.

"I have a very high standard on this sort of thing. You are not partly clean on government work, you are absolutely clean," he said. "I think we are hitting a crisis of confidence not only in politicians but in public companies."

Meanwhile, Elizabeth Witmer, who held the high-profile Education and Health ministries in the Tory years, says last week's revelations are "a betrayal of everything we believed and stood for as a party." She's been getting calls from Tories who are angry and outraged and who are encouraging her to take a run at the leadership, which she's seriously considering.

"We were the party that got rid of the MPP pensions. We tried to demonstrate that we were good fiscal managers," she said. "This was a slap in the face to a lot of people who worked really hard to do what they believed was in the best interests of the people of Ontario.

"You sometimes think it can't get any worse and then it does," she added.

Oak Ridges Tory MPP Frank Klees has also condemned allegations of "abuse" by insiders.

Other Tories are looking outside Queen's Park for a messiah to lead them from this political wilderness. John Tory may have been unsuccessful in his mayoralty bid, but he won credibility for his style and integrity in the way he ran that campaign. He's being heavily courted by a number of PCs and sources close to him tell me that he will make an announcement sooner rather than later.

All the indications are that Tory will join the fray. He made a tough speech this week to the Don Valley West riding association, targeting crime - and integrity in government.

Good for him. Taxpayers have had it up to here with politicians and consultants lining up at the public trough.

It isn't enough for us to roll our eyes and dismiss it as patronage. We must find a way to restore faith in the system. The biggest problem with these kinds of revelations is the cynicism they evoke. It turns off voters in droves. It's no wonder young people don't bother voting when they see the public purse used as a private candy store for a bunch of old white men and their cronies.

I've got only one message for those thinking about abusing the perks of politics: Get your hands off the gumdrops and step away from the jar - for good.

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