ONTARIO LOTTERY AND GAMING CORP.
Mr. Robert W. Runciman (Leeds–Grenville): Last week, the Toronto Sun carried an article titled, “How the Grits Tried to Spin a Scandal.” Of course, the scandal referred to was with the Ontario lottery system and the rip off of millions of dollars of winnings from ticket purchasers.
The article detailed the efforts of highly paid political advisors Warren Kinsella and Jim Warren to come up with ways to dispute the claim and protect the tails of lottery officials and members of the McGuinty government.
The same underhanded efforts are now underway to stop an independent investigation of allegations of obstruction of justice, a criminal code offence, that the CBC’s Fifth Estate suggested occurred in Bob Edmonds’s case, a contention that the Ombudsman Marin agreed could well have happened.
The allegation involved a senior command officer of the OPP, creating a clear conflict for the OPP, yet the government insists they are the appropriate police service to investigate. The government’s highly paid spin doctors are advising them to push back at the opposition parties charging they’re not supporters of the OPP.
These are gutter Liberal tactics at work here. Police investigating themselves, especially dealing with serious allegations, is not appropriate and is a significant principle within government legislation currently before the House.
If the government continues with their refusal to allow an independent investigation of the obstruction of justice allegation, the official opposition will consider utilizing all procedural tools available to us to convey our abhorrence of what increasingly looks like a political cover up.
