TORONTO

A major player in the cancellation of the Oakville gas plant held a fundraiser for the Liberal candidate in Scarborough-Guildwood this week.

Michael Barrack, a lawyer who worked on behalf of TransCanada Energy (TCE) negotiating the scrapping of the controversial Oakville gas plant, held a fundraiser for Mitzie Hunter at the posh National Club on Monday.

I e-mailed and called Barrack to ask him about the fundraiser.

Given the ongoing controversy, I said, and given that he was sitting across the table from senior government officials negotiating on behalf of TCE, did he not think it inappropriate for him now to be holding a fundraiser for a Liberal candidate?

“The province needs good people who represent who we are and who we can be,” he told me by e-mail.

“Mitzie Hunter is one of those people. She has earned my support through her prior activities. I am proud to support her,” he said.

I asked him if he didn’t think there was a conflict, given that he’d been in negotiations with the government over the Oakville plant.

“The two are completely unrelated,” he responded. “I am not aware of any conflict.”

Fair enough. He’s perfectly entitled to raise money for anyone he wishes.

I just think now is a questionable time for him to be fundraising for Hunter.

The gas plant scandal dominated the legislature this spring.

The auditor has not so far released his report on the Oakville plant, but he was scathing in his assessment on the one in Mississauga. The government was outmanoeuvred and they botched deals at every turn. Taxpayers ended up paying far more than was needed.

A spokesman for Hunter, Nilani Logeswaran, said Barrack helped out as a friend.

“Just like other supportive friends, he supported her in that way. He was there as a personal friend and not as a lawyer,” she said.

Except he wasn’t just a friend showing up for the fundraiser. He was one of the hosts. He was the one inviting people.

Given the controversy swirling around the gas plants, wouldn’t it have been more appropriate to steer away from anyone with a connection to the them, I asked?

“I think Premier (Kathleen) Wynne has been pretty open about it and the justice committee is looking into it,” she said.

Well, that’s precisely why no one associated with the gas plant deals should be involved in the political process at this time. The justice committee is still conducting hearings.

Barrack could be asked to testify. His name’s already come up. It seems to me it would have been more appropriate for Hunter to wait for the auditor’s report on the Oakville plant and for the justice committee to conclude its hearings before allowing one of the negotiators in the cancellation to get involved in her campaign.

The Liberal government’s track record on the gas plant cancellations has been a horrendous litany of botched deals and massive overspending. Senior officials in former premier Dalton McGuinty’s office deleted e-mails as they walked out the door, so we have no idea of the machinations behind these deals.

Former auditor general Jim McCarter said the Liberals low-balled the cost of scrapping the Mississauga plant. They said it would cost $190 million. It ended up costing $275 million. The cost of relocating both plants is expected to come in at around $600 million.

We need to see McCarter’s report on the Oakville plant — before next week’s five byelections.

Voters need all the facts — before they go to the polls.

That way they can make up their own minds — and hit delete on this dreadful government.