Nearly two weeks after Ontario Provincial Police raided several offices in a provincial government building, Premier Dalton McGuinty on Tuesday confirmed which ministries were the target of the corruption probe.
The three ministries are Transportation, Economic Development and Trade, and Community and Social Services, said Mr. McGuinty.
“What I want to undertake to do here is to keep Ontarians as informed as best as I can given the information that we receive from police,” Mr. McGuinty said after an event in Trenton, Ont.
“I can tell you that there is an investigation under way that affects three ministries.”
It was the first confirmation from the Liberal government about exactly which ministries were the target when the Ontario Provincial Police raided the Macdonald Block, an office tower across the street from the legislature that houses 13 agencies and ministries.
The opposition parties and public sector unions have been complaining since mid-July about the Liberal cabinet's silence on the police raid, which they complained left a cloud of suspicion hanging over thousands of public servants who work in the Macdonald Block.
“I would hate for this somehow to kind of tar the entire committed public service,” said McGuinty.
“That's why it's important that, as and when I receive information, with reliable details about what is happening, I undertake to make that public.”
The New Democrats said it was the Liberal government, not public servants, that should be worried about the police investigation, and called on the ministers involved to speak up or step down.
“It's not a matter of the civil service being tarred, it's a matter of the premier and his ministers being tarred,” said NDP justice critic Peter Kormos.
“The fact that the ministers responsible have not advised the public as to who the subjects are and the crimes that are being suspected ... that alone is enough to tell a minister that she or he isn't up to the job.”
The government moved quickly after the raid to say no elected officials or political staff were under investigation, but refused to say which ministries were involved. On Monday, Transportation Minister Kathleen Wynne said her ministry was one of the three, but added she had no other details.
The force's anti-rackets branch seized documents during the July 15 raid, which was prompted by allegations of “irregular financial transactions” between the government and outside vendors. So far, no charges have been laid.
“There is no assurance that anybody will in fact be charged,” said Mr. McGuinty, “but if somebody is charged obviously we want to make that information public.”
Provincial police said it could be weeks before investigators finish sifting through the documents they seized and other evidence.
However, the exact nature of the “irregular” transactions with outside vendors and the types of services or goods involved remained unclear Tuesday, even to Mr. McGuinty.
“I don't have that information,” he said.
It was police, not the government, that initiated the investigation, added Mr. McGuinty, who said he doesn't see any conflict, even though the Premier appoints the commissioner of the provincial force.
“This is something that they undertook on their own on the basis of information that they acquired, and they made the decision to go in there and do what they think is appropriate,” he said.
“I've got every confidence in them.”
Several published reports in the past two weeks have said the police raid also targeted the offices of the Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure and the Ontario Realty Corporation, which manages the province's office buildings and other real estate holdings. Mr. McGuinty said Tuesday he was unaware of any investigation involving the realty corporation or the ministry that oversees it.
