Police have launched a criminal investigation into illegally deleted emails by key Liberal political staff serving under former premier Dalton McGuinty that were related to the $585-million scandal over cancelled power plants.

The dramatic move follows Progressive Conservative allegations that public documents were “stolen” to cover up the cost of axing the Mississauga and Oakville plants, which the Liberals had pegged at $230 million.

The case, arising from the cancelling of the unpopular two plants to help win five Liberal seats in the 2011 election, is now with officers in the Ontario Provincial Police criminal division.

“They’ll investigate. How far they investigate is the question,” OPP Commissioner Chris Lewis told the Star on Friday. “They’ll have to interview some people and sort out who did what and was any of that a criminal act.”

Premier Kathleen Wynne, who took over the minority government from McGuinty in February and has called the email deletions “unacceptable,” pledged to co-operate with police, a spokesman said.

The OPP probe comes two days after 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 a legislative committee investigating the gas plant cancellations.

Cavoukian’s report found a “routine deletion of emails … to avoid transparency and accountability” in violation of the Archives and Recordkeeping Act.

That act is not a criminal statute and carries no penalties.

McGuinty broke his silence on her report Friday evening, saying he agrees with Cavoukian that 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,” wrote McGuinty, who remains the MPP for Ottawa South but rarely attends the legislature.

Lewis said his OPP investigators will refer to Cavoukian’s report as they seek to determine “what might be criminal.”

The information watchdog’s report specifically names David Livingston, the former chief of staff for McGuinty, and Craig MacLennan, who was chief of staff to former energy ministers Brad Duguid and Chris Bentley.

Neither MacLennan, now a transition strategist at Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp., nor Livingston, a senior adviser at law firm Borden Ladner Gervais, has responded to daily requests for comment from the Star since the report was released Wednesday.

Lewis said the probe will begin with investigators interviewing Conservative MPPs Vic Fedeli (Nipissing) and Rob Leone (Cambridge) — both members of the legislative committee digging in to the power plant scandal — to flesh out their complaint before moving on to others involved.

Fedeli, energy critic for the party, said in a statement he’s pleased the OPP is moving quickly. “We maintain that a police investigation is warranted to ensure the laws of this province are being upheld.”

Conservatives say police should consider charges under Section 122 of the Criminal Code on breach of trust, which carries a maximum penalty of five years, and Section 341 on fraudulent concealment, which has a penalty of two years.

The investigation has jolted the delicate politics of minority government, with the Conservatives questioning how the New Democrats can, in good conscience, support Wynne’s spring budget and avert a July election.

A final budget vote looms Tuesday with the NDP sticking to its decision to support Wynne because it won budget concessions, including a cut in auto insurance rates and more money for youth employment programs.

“That was the basis for our decision, not … an assessment of the Liberals and their virtues and faults,” said New Democrat MPP Peter Tabuns (Toronto-Danforth), energy critic for his party.

Tabuns, who crafted the original complaint to Cavoukian, applauded the police probe and acknowledged he has “known for a long time that emails we knew existed were no longer in the possession of the premier’s office.”

He said the NDP wants to recall McGuinty, Livingston and MacLennan to testify as witnesses before the legislative committee to answer to Cavoukian’s report.

“Apparently we can’t force (McGuinty) to come back,” Tabuns said. “But this is where the premier comes in. Kathleen Wynne has made it very clear that if people have questions … he should be asked.”

The NDP also wants to recall former McGuinty principal secretary Jamison Steeve and former energy adviser Sean Mullin and to hear from previous chief of staff Chris Morley, who held the job before Livingston took over.

Their email accounts were deleted when they left the government last summer.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

SPOTLIGHT

The report by Information and Privacy Commissioner Ann Cavoukian into illegally deleted emails in the scandal over cancelled power plants shone the spotlight on two key Liberal political staffers:

DAVID LIVINGSTON

Current job: senior adviser with law firm Borden Ladner Gervais

History: was chief of staff to former premier Dalton McGuinty

A veteran Bay Street mergers and acquisitions specialist, Livingston was chief executive officer of the government’s Infrastructure Ontario agency, which oversees real estate and public-private partnerships, when he was tapped to work for the premier in May 2012. He left when McGuinty stepped down in February.

Ontario Power Authority vice-president JoAnne Butler testified at a legislative committee investigating the cancelled power plants that Livingston, while head of Infrastructure Ontario, led negotiations with Oakville plant builder TransCanada Energy after potentially troublesome involvement by some of McGuinty’s political staff.

Told Cavoukian: he had no recollection of how records in the premier’s office were archived.

Quote: “He’s a very sharp guy … he’s not a political guy. We never knew what his political leanings were, but he brings great experience,” says former infrastructure minister David Caplan, who first brought Livingston to Queen’s Park in 2004.

CRAIG MACLENNAN

Current job: transformation strategist, Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. Hired August 2012.

History: chief of staff to former energy ministers Brad Duguid, who was in charge of the portfolio when the Oakville and Mississauga power plants were cancelled in 2010 and 2011 respectively, and Chris Bentley, who took over the post following the last provincial election.

Prior to that, MacLennan was vice-president of public affairs at the Liberal-connected firm Pollara Strategic Insights for one year.

He is no stranger to Queen’s Park, having served previously as chief of staff to the minister of public infrastructure renewal from 2007 to 2008 and as a senior policy adviser, MPP liaison and stakeholder adviser to the provincial government from 2003 to 2007.

Told Cavoukian: he had a long-standing practice of deleting all emails, he didn’t keep any paper records, he preferred verbal communications and now understands deleting all emails was wrong.

Quote: “I don’t know how to archive everything,” MacLennan told legislative committee investigating the power plant scandal.

Read more about: