"The government’s Public Accounts released this week confirms a massive loss for Ontario taxpayers as a result of the sale of Ontario Northland’s former telecommunications arm, Ontera," Ontario PC Finance Critic and Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli said today in a news release.
“For more than a year, Liberals dodged and deflected questions regarding my discovery of this massive loss; now we know it cost the government nearly $61 million to sell this valuable asset for only $6 million,” said Fedeli.
Ontario Northland’s Financial Statement released as part of the Public Accounts report states a “loss on disposal of shares of Ontera” of $60,937,000, and that “the Government provided a one-time contribution of $52,092,000 to support the sale of Ontera”.
“The government was told that selling Ontera was a losing proposition, but didn’t listen at the time. Now they’ve been forced to admit it after the fact. And now they want Ontarians to trust them with the much larger and more complex sale of Hydro One?” Fedeli continued.
Fedeli is hopeful the Auditor General will provide more clarity on the reported loss when she releases her upcoming annual report later this fall.
“Once again, we’re forced to rely on the Auditor to get to the truth with this government. They can’t be trusted and just aren’t in it for Ontarians anymore,” Fedeli concluded.
