Ontario Provincial Police have executed a search warrant on a Mississauga data storage company looking for evidence in the probe of deleted power plant emails by staff in the office of former premier Dalton McGuinty.

The search, identified by the Ottawa Citizen as taking place at an office of Atlanta, Ga.-based Recall Corporation, comes eight months into the investigation by the OPP’s anti-rackets branch.

“There was a search warrant that was executed,” OPP Sgt. Carolle Dionne said Wednesday. “We can’t divulge any details because this is an ongoing investigation.”

Recall, which bills itself a “leading global provider of information management services,” did not return a telephone call from the Star seeking comment about the search or services the company provides to the government.

Opposition critics said the warrant shows the investigation is narrowing after the premier’s office was visited by detectives last year when Premier Kathleen Wynne took power following McGuinty’s resignation.

“The fact that a judge or a justice of the peace signed it is troubling. They don’t do this lightly,” said New Democrat House leader Gilles Bisson, who sits on the legislative committee probing the scandal over power plants in Mississauga and Oakville cancelled before the 2011 election.

Progressive Conservative MPP Vic Fedeli (Nipissing), who called the OPP last July to investigate, said the search “comes as no surprise.”

“It gives credence to everything we’ve been saying. There’s always been two completely separate stories here. One was how much did it cost the taxpayer; the other is who ordered the cover-up?” Fedeli said Wednesday.

“We know that it cost $1.1 billion (over 20 years to cancel the two plants) but we know there’s been a deep cover-up.

Wynne’s office emphasized that since she took over from McGuinty one year ago, she “has been open and transparent about the Mississauga and Oakville gas plant relocations.”

“The premier ordered the full disclosure of documents, wrote to the auditor general, and re-struck the committee examining the issue. The committee has heard from 77 witnesses, during more than 117 hours of testimony, and has been provided with more than 311,000 documents and emails related to the gas plants, including 30,000 directly from the premier’s office,” said Wynne press secretary Zita Astravas.

The OPP probe followed a scathing report from Ontario Information and Privacy Commissioner Ann Cavoukian in response to an NDP complaint that few, if any, documents from the premier’s office and energy minister’s office were released to MPPs investigating the gas plant cancellations.

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That report found a “routine deletion of emails . . . to avoid transparency and accountability” in violation of the Archives and Recordkeeping Act. It is not a criminal statute and carries no penalties.

McGuinty acknowledged last year his government “did not devote adequate resources” to informing staff about saving important documents.

“I was unaware of discussions between government staff and the Ontario Public Service regarding the deletion of documents. At no time did I condone or direct the deletion of emails or documents which ought to have been preserved,” said McGuinty.

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