Christy Clark`s Ben Chin Has Some Explaining To Do Over $Billion Dollar Scandal

Ben Chin, Christy Clark`s Newest Spinner, Where the Streets have No Name

 Written by Grant G

Grab a drink, maybe some popcorn, this is a long link rich post..

 BEN Chin is up to his eyeballs in the $1 billion dollar gas plant boondoggle in Ontario, called to testify as to what he knows, after all, he held this position when the $billion dollar scam went down...

Communications director at the Ontario Power Authority..

Read this below link first, the remaining shocking details are documented below..

 http://www.vancouversun.com/news/metro/Liberal+spokesman+face+questions+Ontario+political+probe/8374390/story.html

 

Well, meet Mr. Ben Chin, a real mover and shaker, this man has not only moved from places of employment more often than most people move chess pieces but his specialty is in shaking Ontario taxpayers for every last penny in their pockets.

Welcome aboard Mr. Chin, you will definitely help Christy Clark`s chances by campaigning side-by-side with her in those Chinese dominated ridings in Burnaby and Richmond.

Oh, I can hear the skeptics doubting my sincerity as I write this provocative piece praising this mover and shaker,.... :Oh how dare the left leaning Straight Goods promote anything Liberal, as in Ontario and BC Liberal:

Where do we start, how about the beginning, Ben Chin came to Canada when he was 13 years of age, his parents were politically persecuted in Korea, a real immigrant success story, from dirt-poor immigrant to journalist to McGuinty advisor and finally to his most well known "acting role" as... Chief facilitator and McGuinty insider mole ....Otherwise known as the the decimator of the Ontario Power Authority..

Let`s start with Ben Chin`s claim of coming to Canada because his parents were facing "political persecution in Korea"..In fact that is exactly what was portrayed in Ben Chin`s 2007 election campaign ad, did I mention that Ben Chin ran for office for the Dalton Mcguinty Liberals in the Danforth riding of Toronto?..Oops, I guess I left that part out, well, I believe that perhaps Mr. Chin may suffer from John Furlong syndrome, you know, that pesky part of telling of one`s past accurately, ..

According to Mr. Chin, in an interview he gave the Toronto Sun`s auto section(Did I mention Ben Chin is an automobile enthusiast) his parents weren`t living in fear of persecution in Korea but were actually retired diplomats living in Europe who decided to move to Canada when he was 13 years of age..Well Mr. Chin, we here at the Straight Goods won`t hold that memory lapse against you, ..In hindsight Ben, you have the "right stuff" because Christy Clark and the Liberal run British Columbia Government require as prerequisite to any employment that memories are to be selective, fleeting, or totally absent in matters of ethics, honour and especially affidavits.

All kidding aside, Christy Clark turned into a federal Conservative by hiring Ken the groper Bosenkool and we know in her heart, "in her heart" Christy Clark is a filipino, and more, Christy Clark is a Sikh too..

Don`t worry your little heart about all that Mr. Chin, with a little help and guidance from you I`m sure shapeshifter Christy too can become Korean and Chinese .."In my heart, in my heart........."   There you are Ben, a head start, just fill in the blanks..

Well, to be honest anyone would be an improvement over Wrigley`s cover girl and sassybrat Sara "the gum" MacIntyre..

In truth the real reason I believe Ben Chin was hired by Christy Clark was his expertise in energy project bafflegab, for Ben Chin was Mcguinty`s go-to-guy and inside enabler when his job title was..

Communications director at the Ontario Power Authority..

We must remember, Dalton Mcguinty like Gordon Campbell gave away $billions of dollars in Green energy gold, not that there is anything wrong with windmills and run-of-river projects, done right as part of Government owned facilities, like the legendary W.A.C. Bennett did with building dams and a hydro electric grid that propelled BC forward and made us the envy of North America, clean green power and profitable to Government and by extension, taxpayers.......Then along came Gordon Campbell who twisted, contorted, lied about energy shortfalls while wearing a green hat and green thumb(He actually used his middle-finger for addressing taxpayers)  gave the ultra-secretive nod to friends and insiders to bugger up countless rivers and streams with guaranteed contracts that bleed $billions of dollars from BC ratepayers, these contracts of crime extend for decades, BC Liberal and Mcguinty motto is...When it comes to party donors and their 1 percent % friends openess and transparency don`t matter, or exist....

:Green energy projects should stay in Government hands, is it not possible to pay, to pay say a contractor to build a run-of-river project(if needed and if not harmful to salmon and wildlife) for Government? , what a win-win, contractor makes good one-time money and Government owns and reaps future windfalls, and or at least we the taxpayer don`t bleed $billions of dollars for decades.:...Grant G

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But adding renewable-energy capacity has proven difficult. Projects still have to be connected to the grid, which is a particular concern when the proposal is for a facility in a remote location, and the approval process has been slow.
Of greater concern is the problem of when the wind blows and the sun shines. On Oct. 28, for example, one of the windiest days of the year, Ontario’s wind energy farms were humming along in the early evening and producing more than 1,450 megawatts — about 85% of wind capacity. This is highly unusual; in the high-demand summer months, wind routinely produces at less than 10% of capacity. But here was a rare day when the wind facilities were doing what they were intended to do — and the province was dumping the electricity on the market at a tiny fraction of what it was paying for it. In fact, at various points of the day, according to data published by Ontario’s Independent Electricity System Operator, the province was exporting to neighbouring jurisdictions almost the exact same amount it was generating from wind farms. At 3 p.m., it was generating 1,432 megawatts of wind — at the mandated rate of ¢13.5 per kw/h — and exporting 1,507 MW at less than ¢3 per kw/h. At 4 p.m., it was producing 1,450 MW from wind and exporting 1,425 MW, at the same 80% discount. You get the idea: Renewables producing excess energy at the time it is least needed.

http://thebiggreenlie.wordpress.com/2012/11/13/mcguintys-green-dreams-are-ontarios-nightmares/

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Sound familiar, Gordon Campbell did the same thing here in British Columbia, that`s why there is a big push for the Site C dam in the peace, all these useless Green energy schemes that are classed as intermittent power and produce power when the need is next to nil, this power ends up being given away for pennies, that part is ok, the giving away part,  but therein lies the problems because Dalton McGuinty, like Gordon Campbell guaranteed their $green 1% friends lucrative cash payments for decades, the scam of scams, the energy itself isn`t the scam the written and hidden from public purview contracts are the scam, if these corrupt Liberal provincial Governments were interested in both green energy and the public good the very simple technology of building run-of-river or windmill power would have been built as contracts, a deal where contractors build and Governments own, ..Wow, what a concept, who knew!...You mean it`s possible to have homes, businesses, sidewalks and ferries etc etc etc built and you actually own them and not pay massive premiums for decades..Oh the humanity..

So here`s the deal, Mcguinty was in big trouble, his green energy scam was coming home to roost, his HST betrayal on the Ontario taxpayer was also hurting, and hurting bad, as you know, or perhaps you never heard but back when Gordon Campbell and Colin Hansen were denying that they knew nothing of what Ontario was up too, as to implementing the HST (even know the BC Progress board in their December 2008 edition advised Gordon Campbell to adopt the HST but warned of Government backlash and risks of being tossed out of office)..Dalton Mcguinty declared the HST would make....

"HST will make Ontario competitive and create 600,000 jobs"...

It must be true because they said so..

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Fall Bill Cuts Taxes and Creates Jobs for Ontario McGuinty Government's Budget Bill means $15 billion for Ontarians
December 9^th – With today's passage of Bill 218, the Ontario Tax Plan for More Jobs and Growth Act, 2009, the McGuinty government will provide individuals, families and businesses with more than  $15 billion in tax cuts over three years.
This legislation is the centrepiece of the McGuinty government's plan to create jobs and return the province to economic growth. In addition to introducing the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST), the bill gives 93 per cent of income taxpayers a permanent personal income tax cut and 90,000 low-income Ontarians will no longer pay any provincial personal income tax.
Tax cuts for business include reductions in Corporate Income Tax rates for large and small business.  These tax cuts will enhance the benefits of the HST by attracting more business investment into Ontario and creating close to 600,000 new jobs.


http://www.bobchiarelli.onmpp.ca/CentralNews.aspx?id=281

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THUNDER BAY – Gordon Campbell, the Premier of British Columbia resigned. Campbell cited the implementation of the Harmonized Sales Tax as one of the reasons he is stepping down. Campbell’s popularity has sunk to about 10% or lower in recent months.

In his resignation speech, Campbell said, “It’s time for a new person to lead. I am asking the party to move as quickly as possible to organize a leadership convention. I intend to ensure a smooth and orderly transition. My goal is to return public attention to what is important to British Columbians – their jobs, their families and how government can best support them.
“That is what the decision on the HST was all about. I hope that my announcement today will allow British Columbians to move forward and fully consider the HST and the alternative on their merits between now and September 2011”.
In British Columbia in September 2011 there will be a referendum in the province over the HST. In Ontario the closest the province will get to a referendum will be the October 2011 election.
Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty and the Ontario Liberals have also been paying a political price in recent months, the HST, and a growing number of scandals are slowly reducing the popularity of the government.
Anger against the HST in Ontario has been very muted however, compared to British Columbia.
In the west, former Premier Bill Vander Zalm formed a group which collected 700,000 signatures on a petition calling for the referendum on the HST. In recent days, Sears has promised customers that if the HST is repealed that they will refund the tax to customers. Other retailers have not yet joined Sears in this move.
The contrast to Ontario is stark where the McGuinty Government has promised that 600,000 jobs will be created by the HST, but the province has lost jobs since the July implementation of the tax.
The overall mood of voters in Ontario’s civic election, is in line with that in the United States. Voters appear frustrated. The election of Rob Ford in Toronto, which some Liberal pundits and media commentators are suggesting is good for the Liberals seems, at least to me, as a major mistake.
At the provincial level, the political smackdown that George Smitherman received from Rob Ford was, perhaps the strongest rebuke of the McGuinty Liberals possible so far.
The problem in Ontario appears that McGuinty is increasingly out-of-touch with the reality of life for ordinary Ontario families. The attention paid to lobbyists, special interest groups, and green energy has massively outpaced the McGuinty Government’s understanding of taxpayers.
It is a move likely to end next October.


http://www.netnewsledger.com/2010/11/04/hst-claims-bc-premier-is-mcguinty-next/

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So here we had Dalton Mcguinty in big trouble, his green energy scam was a big multi $billion dollar loser, Ontario has been mired in $20 billion dollar deficits, not one but one after another after another, no jobs created with the HST, consumers holding back, taxpayers being bled dry over spiking energy costs, and behind Dalton Mcguinty`s green energy scam and not needed-energy-projects was advisor and election-riding savior extraordinaire Ben the mouthpiece Chin....

So worried about winning the 2011 fall provincial Ontario election that all the tricks were pulled out of the bag, ....Ontario was in need of firm power to facilitate selling the intermittent over-priced garbage power, this firm power was to come in the form of new gas-powered power plants, but that posed another problem, Dalton Mcguinty had already promised his green-guru friends that they could build these plants, monies were borrowed through hedge funds , borrowed at usury interest rates, of course these interest rates were not a problem for Dalton`s friends because the now anemic and bloodless Ontario taxpayer was going to backstop these interest rates with tax dollars, a continuation of Mcguinty`s green-energy scam, these plants were required to firm up the glut of interrmittent and unreliable green power..

However there was a serious problem, the dreaded election polls, Dalton Mcguinty, through internal polls knew that they would lose the election by a scant margin, Dalton Mcguinty needed to save a couple of ridings that had power plants proposed to be built in...The voters were staunchly against breathing noxious fumes and reducing overall air quality for the sole reason of facilitating the sale of guaranteed, over-priced intermittent power..

So in an 11th hour decision, Dalton McGuinty, with the helpful mouth of the director of communications for the Ontario Power Authority, limited memory-man Ben Chin a decision was made to cancel the power plants in those 2 ridings, that move was made to save the Mcguinty Government from expulsion and opposition status, they needed those 2 ridings to secure a majority, albeit a small majority...The ruse failed, so unpopular was Dalton and his lying Liberals that they managed to win in the election but only with a minority Government..

Now the shit-hits-the-fan, with only a minority Ontario Liberal Government Dalton lost his power, he could no longer hide the dirty details, ..Ben Chin left his Dalton Mcguinty appointed position at the Ontario Power Authority and fled as far away from Ontario as possible, no, he didn`t leave Canada for Korea(perhaps out of fear of "persecution") but to Vernon BC, ....

Dalton Mcguinty, now in big trouble, he was asked by the speaker of the Ontario legislature to release all documents related to canceling the power plants at the 11th hour.
 Dalton Mcguinty for a millisecond agreed to release documents,...
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"Ontario Liberals to release power plant documents by Monday"

 We’re going to have to figure out the mechanics of making them public, the where and when and all that, but as you know from the (Speakers’) ruling, we have until the end of the day Monday.”
Speaker Dave Levac ruled Sept. 13 that Energy Minister Chris Bentley violated a member’s privilege by refusing to release all documents on the energy projects the Liberals cancelled, but gave the three parties until Monday to resolve the dispute.
The Liberals proposed a six-week extension Friday so the government could finish negotiations with TransCanada Pipeline, developer of the canceled Oakville power plant, but the Tories and NDP wouldn’t agree, said Mr. Milloy.

 http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ontario-liberals-to-release-power-plant-documents-by-monday/article4560363/

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When that stall failed Dalton shut down the Ontario Parliament, just like how Gordon Campbell did(regularly) and now a Christy Clark standard, call it a maintaining of the Liberal motto, that being.."when we can`t win, we cheat"

Dalton squirmed, fretted, lied and lied some more, he denied, he refused, he stalled and when his hands were forced to give up all the documents he suddenly prorogued parliament and resigned, the game is afoot, not only did he prorogue Government and quit the sinking corrupt Liberal flagship he advised all his top-cabinet ministers to resign their posts/positions and run for the leadership of the party..And until the leadership contest is finished this spring the Ontario legislature remains closed and no answers are forthcoming, no documents surrendered..

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Nearly all of the $190-million the Ontario government paid in compensation to scrap a controversial power plant west of Toronto went to eight hedge funds based in the United States and Cayman Islands to cover a controversial loan.
The hedge funds pocketed $149-million, more than twice as much as they had put up for the project, after a prolonged and aggressive legal battle in the courts in New York and Ontario. The hedge funds, all connected to Washington-based EIG Management Co., gained the upper hand thanks to an unorthodox financing agreement they had with the project developer, according to thousands of pages of internal government correspondence and legal filings reviewed by The Globe and Mail. And they took full advantage.


The province’s problems began shortly after the Liberals decided to scrap the Mississauga power plant during the dying days of the 2011 election campaign.
That decision triggered a default on the loan and some costly penalties. The loan only dated back to May, 2011, when the hedge funds agreed to provide $260-million in construction financing to Eastern Power Ltd., the company building the power plant.
Eastern had borrowed just $61-million as of November, 2011, documents showed. But once the project was cancelled, the hedge funds sued the Ontario government the following March for $300-million in damages. Those damages included a so-called “yield maintenance amount” – which essentially treated the undrawn portion of the financing as if it had already been dispersed.

 http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/hedge-funds-reaped-149-million-from-cancelled-ontario-power-plant/article5083741/

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 Reminds me of Gregor Robertson having to change the Vancouver charter after the BC Liberal farm team the NPA gave the Olympic village building nod to Millennium development, Sam Sullivan and his NPA team locked the city of Vancouver into the Millennium deal, the result of that crime was....Gregor Robertson and the city of Vancouver had to borrow $800 million dollars and pay off the New York city based hedge fund known as Fortress, a crony vulture loan shark, the City of Vancouver is still out Hundreds of $millions of dollars...

 http://powellriverpersuader.blogspot.ca/2010/03/npa-millennium-developmentthe-big-fraud.html

Meanwhile, now with the Ontario Liberals dead, caput, Christy Clark is facing the same election issues as Dalton Mcguinty, a failed BC Liberal green energy scam, a failed HST, energy prices skyrocketing, user fees up, insurance costs up, services being cut because of BC Government revenues bleeding red ink, and the big one, who better to advise a very unpopular premier on using failed energy schemes, on using propaganda and lies to win ridings, Enbridge comes to mind, what better man to hire than the one-time ex complicit mouth-piece who worked his magic at the Ontario Power Authority...

For we know Christy Clark will pretend to be against the Enbridge pipeline through BC`s already started election writ period, yes friends the BC Liberals have indeed started their lying reelection "scheme"..And then she, if (gawd help us all) she and her corrupt party get reelected will suddenly ram through, with all the blessing of the robo-scandalous filled Harper Facist and Chinese owned Conservative Government will suddenly flip positions and green-light Enbridge`s black goop filled pipeline to the future!...

http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/10/16/mcguinty-prorogued-parliament-to-avoid-facing-the-music-opposition-leaders-claim/


Mr. Ben Chin, welcome to beautiful British Columbia, a place where some streets have no name, in fact we even have mayors and councilors presiding over towns with no people, only developers..

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 B.C.'s Community Development Minister Bill Bennett formally announced the creation of the Mountain Resort Municipality of Jumbo Glacier and appointed former mayor of Radium Hot Springs Greg Deck as the community's first mayor. ...........

Even before the official announcement Invermere Mayor Gerry Taft went so far as to call the move "undemocratic."

"From my perspective this is a back-room deal, which is a slap in the face for democracy," said Taft Tuesday morning.
"It creates a community or town which has no people, and has an appointed council which is then able to pass land use decisions and zone land and increase the value of land without being accountable to any local population."

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2012/11/19/bc-jumbo-ski-resort-announcement.html
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 (Updated here, I forgot this last bit, "The Key"..oops)


Of course there are some people who might not believe the above evidence is a smoking gun, well, let`s have a look at the below smoking gun evidence, perhaps Ben Chin can answer the mainstream media`s questions, eer, if they actually ask any...Here we go..

As I said, the only reason these gas-powered power plants were being built was to firm up the garbage power, Dalton Mcguinty has said over and over again the cancelation of these power plants will only cost Ontario taxpayers, and I quote..."230 million dollars" snip..

Perhaps Mr. Ben Chin could explain the discrepancy Dalton McGuinty`s claim of $230 and the real cost of $1.2 billion dollars, sheesh, that`s a lot of money to save 2 ridings in a general Provincial election..Below is an exquisite piece put together by Parker Gallant

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McGuinty gobbles Gobbels

Joseph Gobbels was the Reich, Minister of Propaganda in Nazi Germany and is attributed with the quote; “If you repeat a lie often enough, it becomes the truth.”  From outward appearances it would appear that the mantra of the Ontario Liberal Party is not dissimilar to that of the Third Reich when one looks at the Liberal Party's defence of the cost of the gas plant moves.

Randy Richmond of the London Free Press on November 2, 2012 had a Q. & A. with Dalton McGuinty and posed this question;

“The prorogation means this gas-plant investigation is over. What do you say to Ontarians who still want answers? The Conservatives say the cost of moving plants is up to $1 billion.

The Premier's answer was;

“I am waiting for the day when somebody says, ‘Actually it’s $400 trillion,’ because, as I say, ‘If Elvis says it, I’ve got to print it.’ What was the latest number? $1.3 billion? Do I hear 1.7? When are we going to get to 2.8? It’s kind of an interesting game . . . In total we are talking a $230-­million cost.”

Yet another, CBC story of November 11, 2012 on the costs of the gas plant moves reported as follows;

“Energy industry watchdog Tom Adams told the National Post he poured through thousands of documents on the gas plants in Oakville and Mississauga and determined the total cost of cancelling the two projects was at least $1 billion higher than the $230 million the government claims.”Speaking in Peterborough, McGuinty said he "knows Tom Adams" but dismissed the energy consultant's calculations out of hand.

"Of course I fully reject that calculation," McGuinty told reporters.

"We're very confident that the costs are in total $230 million. We've released all of the documentation.”

“McGuinty also said he hasn't seen anything in all the documents on the gas plants to back up Adams' suggestion that the premier's office made promises to the developer of the Oakville project that hurt the Ontario Power Authority's negotiating position on behalf of taxpayers.

"You might ask yourself — we've had 56,000 pages of documents available for a month now — what has come of this," McGuinty challenged reporters.

"Remember all the uproar about the documents?”

Also quick off the mark to claim the costs were limited to $230 million was the Ontario Energy Minister, Chris Bentley, who wrote a letter to the National Post which appeared in the November 3, 2012 edition. In that letter Minister Bentley had this to say:

“The McGuinty government has always been clear about the total cost of relocation of both the Mississauga gas plant and the Oakville gas plant. And that number is $230-million. It is misleading and inaccurate to suggest the cost is more than $1-billion."

In the latter instance Minister Bentley was criticizing an article by Terence Corcoran. That article supported the arguments put forth by Tom Adams.

Well as someone who has so far poured through only 9,000 of the 56,000 documents I would suggest that Messrs. McGuinty and Bentley also do so before making any more claims. There are numerous facts that can be found that point to much higher costs. Here are just a few;

From an e-mail dated April 19, 2011:

“What might not be obvious to those not involved directly in the discussions is that acceptance of TCE's original proposal to settle is the worst possible outcome for the ratepayer. It appears that our second counter-proposal is the next worst outcome for the ratepayer.”.   NB: The second counter-proposal referenced in this e-mail was consistently referred to as a “government-ordered” proposal.

The “outcome” appearing on an internal OPA chart had the costs shown as $950 million for TCE's original proposal and $712 million for the 2nd counter-proposal.  NB: TCE rejected the latter as another e-mail of April 29, 2011 to Colin Andersen from an OPA staff member states;

“Hi Colin,
The rejection has come ... Michael L is suggesting a short meeting later this afternoon to discuss ... might you be available to participate? Also, you will note, I have copied folks here, but wonder about broader distribution to the DMO, MO, other? Your thoughts?”

A March 2010 “Briefing Paper” in a PowerPoint presentation (presumably prepared by OPA staff) and related to the Oakville gas plant had, amongst others, the following point.

“There's an additional requirement for $200 million transmission system work at the GTA to ensure near-term reliability, as well as $20-30 million to transmit electricity over longer distances.”

As is obvious in reading either Premier McGuinty's or Minister Bentley's quotes these transmission costs are not included in the $230 million that they keep insisting is the true cost.

Yet another OPA staff prepared presentation dated September 2010 titled “Alternatives for SWGTA” under the heading; “Rationale for building gas-fired generation in Southwest GTA” has listed as 2. “Complement wind”.  What that effectively means is that in order to back up the intermittent generation of electricity from those industrial wind sites, requires fossil-fuel generation, in the form of gas plants. So to be accurate the Liberals should really include the subsidies to wind developers if they wish to accurately state what the true cost of the gas plants and their subsequent moves are.

As noted in an earlier article the OPA had executed an agreement with the Crown (taxpayers) that limited their liability for settlement of the TransCanada (TC) contract termination announced on October 7, 2010 by Brad Duguid, the former Minister of Energy.  The OPA also sought a “directive” from the Minister that would clearly direct them to offer TC an alternate contract for the peaker gas plant that was to be located in Cambridge and protect them (the OPA) in the event of future litigation by TC.   Here is an excerpt from a January 21, 2011 e-mail;

“As some additional colour, I note that I have been told that the MO [Ministry Office] does not even want the following language in the directive, "In negotiating this contract, it is anticipated that the OPA will have regard to a reasonable balance of risk and reward for TransCanada ... " When I was drafting I wasn't feeling creative enough to do without this but if someone can figure out a way to eliminate it (while still giving us appropriate negotiating parameters), I'd welcome the suggestion.”

Another interesting e-mail that Premier McGuinty should have seen if he really looked at the documents as he claimed above is one from Ben Chin, a former member of his staff . The following is a November 24, 2010 e-mail of Mr. Chin to OPA staff when he headed up the OPA's communications group;

“Looks good Deb ... one suggestion, some wording changes on slide 7 (even though there's no hand-outs):
Government advised TCE that Ontario has other needs for gas-fired generation
OPA staff is informing Government
OPA staff advised of Province's priorities:
Negotiated solution does not exceed $1.2 B
No cheque issued to TCE
Good location for replacement facility (i.e. rural and meets setback requirements of Bill 8)
Per unit cost close to that of similar generation technology
Capacity of replacement facility similar to that.identified in IPSP and LTEP

The suggestions of Mr. Chin were incorporated in a OPA Board presentation that “Deb” was responsible for preparing and was noted in Terence Corcoran's article on Dalton McGuinty titled Dodging a $1.2 billion bullet. 


Read the entire piece here



http://freewco.blogspot.ca/2012/11/mcguinty-gobbles-gobbels.html

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