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Mayor testifies Town was not disposed to gas plant continued from p.1 whether the government would have been on the hook for what McGuinty repeatedly insisted were $40 million in cancellation costs -- which opposition parties say is far too low. The Oakville plant, in a riding held by Liberal MPP Kevin Flynn, was scrapped in October 2010, a year before the last provincial election that saw the Liberals reduced to a minority government. With just days to go until that vote on Oct. 6, 2011, the McGuinty government announced it would also scrap a similar power plant slated for a vacant Mississauga lot across from the Sherway Gardens shopping mall. It was also in a Liberal riding, prompting opposition party charges that the cancellations were part of the Liberal "seat saver" program. New Premier Kathleen Wynne has acknowledged the cancellations were politically motivated. The legislative committee is trying to get to the bottom of cancellation costs for the plants, including another $190 million for Mississauga. The figures are under review by Ontario Auditor General Jim McCarter and opposition parties claim the costs are closer to $1 billion. Burton said he met with McGuinty in August of 2010 to impress upon him that Oakville believed the plant's pollution levels and safety risks were too high for the location chosen. "I was struck by the poker face the premier can manifest . . . I couldn't tell if we were generating any sympathy." Then, two months later, the cancellation announcement came as a pleasant surprise, Burton added, noting that it was his belief the New Democrats and Progressive Conservatives -- which have been highly critical of the cancellation costs -- would have also scrapped the plant. "Anyone who wishes to criticize the cancellation fee would do everybody a favour if they would explain how they would have done it differently," he told the committee of MPPs. The committee resumed Tuesday afternoon with testimony from OPA vice-president JoAnne Butler and Peter Wallace, Premier Kathleen Wynne's cabinet secretary, who served in the same post under McGuinty. 3 | Wednesday, March 20, 2013 | OAKVILLE BEAVER | www.insideHALTON.com Rob Burton Calculations could be wrong by Rob Ferguson Toronto Star The controversial $40 million tab for scrapping a power plant in Oakville could be just plain wrong, Energy Minister Bob Chiarelli admitted Monday. With opposition parties pressuring the government over an estimate the actual cost was $638 million, Chiarelli broke ranks with his predecessor Chris Bentley and former premier Dalton McGuinty. "The $40 million is a figure that was provided to us by the OPA, the Ontario Power Authority," said Chiarelli, who took over the energy post after Kathleen Wynne became premier last month. "They did the negotiation, they did the calculations, they provided them to us and we made them public. They could be wrong." Chiarelli said he's waiting for Ontario Auditor General Jim McCarter to report on the cost, likely this summer, as requested by Wynne. "Sometimes he finds there are errors and could have been done better. So let's wait for the auditor general," he told reporters after the legislature's daily question period, where Tory energy critic Vic Fedeli charged "someone is not being forthright here." Fedeli called for more documents on the true cost of the plant cancellation to be released immediately. New Democrat energy critic Peter Tabuns said the $40 million figure is "not a credible number." "Your predecessor said the $40 million was the number, that it had been nailed," Tabuns said, referring to Bentley, who has resigned from politics. The $638 million tally came from energy consultant Bruce Sharp, who testified last week before the legislature's justice committee probing the gas plant scandal, which includes the $190 million decision to scrap a power plant in Mississauga less than two weeks before the Oct. 6, 2011 provincial election. Wynne has admitted scrapping the two plants was a politically motivated decision to save Liberal seats. Chiarelli suggested MPPs on the justice committee call OPA officials to "give their calculations." The committee resumed hearings yesterday with Oakville Mayor Rob Burton, Wynne cabinet secretary Peter Wallace and OPA vice-president JoAnne Butler slated to testify. McCarter is expected to table another report on the costs of the Mississauga cancellation, ordered during McGuinty's tenure, next month. 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