Ontario Liberals take heat for offering Hydro One shares in labour settlement

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Ontario's opposition parties are accusing the Liberal government of contempt of parliament for quietly offering shares in Hydro One to power workers as part of a labour settlement.

Premier Kathleen Wynne's plan to privatize the Crown corporation has not yet been approved by the legislature but, as The Globe reported last week, the government offered workers at Ontario Power Generation and Hydro One shares in the company in their new collective agreements. Under the terms of the deal, OPG workers would receive shares equivalent to 2.75 per cent of their salaries every year for 15 years; Hydro One employees would get shares worth 2.7 per cent of their annual salaries annually for 12 years.

The government has kept details of the settlement secret, as it has not yet been ratified by union members. The Globe learned of the share deal through leaked internal Power Workers' Union memos about Hydro One and Ontario Power Generation.

NDP House Leader Gilles Bisson said Tuesday that cutting a deal to give away shares in a privatized Hydro One before the legislature has even voted on the privatization constitutes a breach of parliamentary privilege. He called on Speaker Dave Levac to find that the Liberals may have committed contempt.

"By negotiating the distribution of private shares of a public Crown asset such as Ontario Hydro, before the legislature of Ontario has approved the sale of such shares, the government undermines the authority of this House," Mr. Bisson said in the legislature.

Progressive Conservative House Leader Steve Clark agreed, arguing that members of the public would infer from the government's actions that the Hydro One "deal was done" without the legislature having to vote on it.

"It really flies in the face of all of us and our parliamentary democracy that the government continues down this path without the debate," he said.

Government House Leader Yasir Naqvi asked Mr. Levac to throw out Mr. Bisson's complaint, on the grounds that it was filed too late. Mr. Naqvi contended the NDP should have raised the complaint one day earlier, the first available opportunity after the Globe story outlining the deal was published.

Mr. Naqvi also contended that the deal did not breach parliament's privilege, since the share provisions in the agreement would take effect only if the legislature voted in favour of privatization.

"If a deal is eventually ratified, it would of course be contingent on the legislature passing the budget. There has been no suggestion otherwise," he said.

Mr. Levac, a Liberal, reserved his decision.

The Liberals have a comfortable majority in the legislature, leaving virtually no doubt they will pass the budget and move forward with the sale of Hydro One.

But if Mr. Levac rules against the government, it will be a symbolic slap on the wrist over the handling of the labour deal. It could also tie up the legislature, which would then have to debate what action to take on the contempt motion.

In the most famous recent parliamentary contempt case, in the fall of 2012, Mr. Levac ruled against the government in relation to the gas-plant scandal. At the time, the Liberals had only a minority in the legislature, allowing the PCs and NDP to refer the matter to committee for investigation.

Committee hearings stretched for nearly two years and uncovered a series of details about the scandal that ultimately led to a police investigation.

Such a scenario is unlikely to repeat itself: Even if Mr. Levac allows the contempt motion to proceed, the Liberals will most likely vote against allowing it to go any further.