Aides to Ontario ex-premier McGuinty plead not guilty in gas plants scandal
TORONTO — Two top political aides to former Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty pleaded not guilty Monday to charges over the destruction of internal emails about the Liberal government’s costly cancellation of two gas plants.
Foreshadowing what is expected to be a bitterly fought case, the long-awaited trial of David Livingston and his deputy Laura Miller finally began with an attack on the prosecution over the information it had provided the defence, leading to a week-long delay in hearing evidence.
Livingston’s lawyer, Brian Gover, stopped short of alleging Crown misconduct but slammed the quality and timeliness of the disclosed materials.
“The police notes are cryptic, unusually sketchy, as if by instruction,” Gover told Ontario court Judge Timothy Lipson. “The defence has no idea what facts the witnesses really conveyed.”