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Police allege McGuinty aide’s spouse was paid $10,000 to wipe computers

GameBoy27

Well-known member
Nov 23, 2004
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Someone really should be in jail over this!

The partner of Dalton McGuinty’s deputy chief of staff was paid $10,000 to wipe computer hard drives in the premier’s office, police allege.

By: Robert Benzie Queen's Park Bureau Chief, Richard J. Brennan Provincial Politics, Rob Ferguson , Published on Thu Dec 18 2014

The Liberals spent $10,000 in taxpayers’ money to have the spouse of Dalton McGuinty’s former deputy chief of staff erase government computers in the premier’s office, Ontario Provincial Police allege.

In a 131-page search warrant application from OPP detectives probing deleted documents in the $1.1-billion gas plants scandal, Det.-Const. Andre Duval wrote that computer expert Peter Faist was asked by his spouse, former deputy chief of staff Laura Miller, “to wipe off personal data on approximately 20 desktop computers in the premier’s office.”

“He was paid an amount of $10,000 by the Liberal caucus for his work,” Duval wrote.

The revelation is the latest wrinkle in McGuinty’s controversial decision to scrap two gas-fired power plants before the 2011 Ontario election in order to save five Liberal-held ridings. The $10,000 transaction also raises questions as to why the Liberal Caucus Service Bureau would pay a private contractor — not a government employee with required security clearances — to delete information on government computers.

The Liberal Caucus Service Bureau said the allegation about the payment is a surprise.

“We had no information until today that the services invoiced by Mr. Faist may relate to the ongoing investigation into David Livingston,” Liberal caucus communications director André Ghione said in an emailed statement, referring to McGuinty’s former chief of staff.

Miller worked under Livingston, who is being investigated for providing Faist with a special password giving full access to computers in the premier’s office.

Nothing has been proven in court. Livingston has not been charged and has insisted he has done nothing wrong. His lawyer did not return calls or emails from the Star.

Faist’s lawyer declined to comment but said earlier this year his client “has done absolutely nothing wrong.”

The search warrant documents were unsealed Thursday by the Ontario Court of Justice after the Star intervened. Large portions keyed on Livingston, his former deputy, Miller and her spouse, Faist.

The warrant — for email boxes and backup tapes on Livingston and Miller — was executed Nov. 27 at the government’s cyber security office as police follow a paper trail that began with emails recovered under a first search warrant last February.

In the documents, investigators also outline efforts to keep potentially controversial emails from being discovered.

They include Livingston — who is the subject of the anti-rackets probe for breach of trust — specifying which underlings should have their hard drives wiped and advising aides on ways to permanently delete emails.

“Having said all of this, nothing is more confidential than talking rather than writing!” Livingston wrote in an email Aug. 9, 2012.

That was two months before McGuinty resigned suddenly and prorogued the legislature amid a furor over a lack of documents explaining the gas plant cancellations.

Premier Kathleen Wynne’s administration blocked Faist and Miller from testifying before a legislative committee probing the gas plants after winning a majority in the June 12 election, infuriating opposition parties.

According to the warrant application, Faist told police in an interview Oct. 9 that he made the payment deal with Dave Gene, McGuinty’s former operations director.

Gene, reached on a cruise, denied making an arrangement with Faist.

“The answer is NO,” Gene wrote in an email.

Faist’s company, NetCon1, had previously performed work for the Ontario Liberal Party and the Liberal caucus.

Duval also said emails recovered from the previous computer seizure show that Faist tried to delete documents before the special password was granted — something that wary senior civil servants did not know at the time. Miller referred to it in emails as “Pete’s project.”

“Mr. Faist was under the impression that cabinet office was aware of his presence and the work requested of him,” Duval wrote.

Also in the application, Duval says when the OPP’s technological crime unit examined hard drives seized earlier this year it found that special software called “White Canyon” was used to wipe 632,118 files from 20 computers.

Despite the ability of that software to permanently delete data while leaving the computer’s operating system intact, the files scrubbed represent 13 per cent of the data on the hard drives, which held a total of 4.8 million files.

Duval said Faist answered “no” when asked if he knew what documents were deleted and that he told people whose hard drives were being scrubbed to back up any files they still needed on USB keys.

That raises the possibility deleted files may still be in possession of some McGuinty premier’s office staff — something Faist said he also did not know, according to Duval.

He concluded any deleted files are not the fault of Faist, who provided police with emails that could not be recovered from hard drives seized earlier this year.

“The onus of preserving government records was not Mr. Faist’s responsibility, but Mr. Livingston’s,” Duval wrote, noting Livingston had declined to provide a statement to the OPP as of Nov. 21.

Progressive Conservative House leader Steve Clark, whose party requested the probe 18 months ago, said Thursday’s revelation “just proves to me it was a good move on our part to bring in the OPP.”

New Democrat House leader Gilles Bisson said details of the search warrant application are “pretty damning” and called on Wynne to back up her talk about having an “open and transparent government” by letting Faist and Miller testify.

Auditor general Bonnie Lysyk has estimated the cancellations could cost ratepayers and taxpayers as much as to $1.1 billion over 20 years.

McGuinty is not subject of the police investigation, and neither are Faist and Miller, who now live in Vancouver. While Faist agreed to speak with police, Miller had not as of Nov. 21, Duval said.
http://www.thestar.com/news/queenspark/2014/12/18/police_allege_mcguinty_aides_boyfriend_paid_10000_to_wipe_computers.html
 

saxon

Well-known member
Dec 2, 2009
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Does anything the Ontario Liberals surprise you? This is how far they will go to hold onto power.
 

Frosty

Active member
Sep 1, 2001
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Chalk it up as another one they got away with.

Even though there's a point uncover the truth to these investigations. But what would it matter if no one ever gets brought to justice. Political figures never see jail time. Just get shamed.
 
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happ

Active member
Sep 22, 2010
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Ontarians get what they deserve for voting in the Liberals again after all the scandals.
I understand now why the other provinces hate them.
Shame on you Ontarians.
 

squeezer

Well-known member
Jan 8, 2010
20,717
15,267
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Ontarians get what they deserve for voting in the Liberals again after all the scandals.
I understand now why the other provinces hate them.
Shame on you Ontarians.
You should move to Alberta this way you can get close to your roots. I hear the weather's great and Peter Mackay is the door man at the local brothel.
 

fuji

Banned
Jan 31, 2005
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¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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Ontarians get what they deserve for voting in the Liberals again after all the scandals.
I understand now why the other provinces hate them.
Shame on you Ontarians.
The Liberals only wasted money, they didn't devastate the province the way the PC's did. Remember in Ontario our electoral choice is between bad and worse. The liberals may be bad but they have only ever faced worse in elections.
 

elmo

Registered User
Oct 23, 2002
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The Liberals only wasted money, they didn't devastate the province the way the PC's did. Remember in Ontario our electoral choice is between bad and worse. The liberals may be bad but they have only ever faced worse in elections.
Liberals have been raping us for years. They are completely incompetent and show zero signs of improvement, they will bankrupt this province without remorse. Unfortunately, you are correct about our bad and worse choices. Corruption, ignorance and illegal activities rus rampant in Canadian politics, we deserve better but I fear there is no better.
 

guelph

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May 25, 2002
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Liberals have been raping us for years. They are completely incompetent and show zero signs of improvement, they will bankrupt this province without remorse. Unfortunately, you are correct about our bad and worse choices. Corruption, ignorance and illegal activities rus rampant in Canadian politics, we deserve better but I fear there is no better.
Nobody fucked the Ontario taxpayers like the Harris PCs
 

GPIDEAL

Prolific User
Jun 27, 2010
23,358
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The Liberals only wasted money, they didn't devastate the province the way the PC's did. Remember in Ontario our electoral choice is between bad and worse. The liberals may be bad but they have only ever faced worse in elections.
LMAO. At least Harris did what he promised (and I have no idea what you're talking about when you say 'devastate'). There's a reason they call the Liberals the Fiberals, and McGuinty, McSquinty.
 

GPIDEAL

Prolific User
Jun 27, 2010
23,358
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Libs give them a good run for the money, difference is that Harris told you he was going to fuck you in advance, Libs fuck you first then lie about it
No no. They lie first, get elected, then they fuck you.
 

GPIDEAL

Prolific User
Jun 27, 2010
23,358
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Nobody fucked the Ontario taxpayers like the Harris PCs
Puh-lease. Under Harris, they balanced budgets, and had to download because Chretien significantly reduced provincial transfer payments. Even though they made a billion dollars from the sale of the 407, which went back into the government's coffers to balance the budget and pay for social services, people will regret that sale as a big mistake. Perhaps they are guilty of being short-sighted, but it's not like 407 revenues are tax free to the new foreign owners. Canada is not a tax-free haven to do business in (unlike some critics will sound like).
 

bver_hunter

Well-known member
Nov 5, 2005
29,229
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Libs give them a good run for the money, difference is that Harris told you he was going to fuck you in advance, Libs fuck you first then lie about it
Harris did not tell the Northern Torontonians that they are going to be screwed for 99 years with his 407 etr legacy. Already the rates have gone up ten fold since it was privately leased, so you can imagine how much the tolls will be in another 80 years when the lease ends.
 

oldjones

CanBarelyRe Member
Aug 18, 2001
24,486
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Does anything the Ontario Liberals surprise you? This is how far they will go to hold onto power.
Even worse; they stole the idea of cancelling the gas plants from the Conservatives (who stole it from the NDP).

However this particular skullduggery doesn't seem to have been the doin's of any party. All the evidence—none of which amounts to any sort of proof—so far says it was the staff of a single rogue MPP. Unfortunately he just happened to be Premier at the time, so no one sayed him 'Nay!'.

But no matter whether it was Tim or Andrea who pulled that particular plug instead of McG, we'd all be outta pocket just the same as we are now.

The First Principle of making smart decisions about government and politics, or any other blood-sport is to look past the team loyalties, cheerleaders and fanboy T-shirts and watch the play on the field.
 

trtinajax

New member
Apr 7, 2008
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Harris did not tell the Northern Torontonians that they are going to be screwed for 99 years with his 407 etr legacy. Already the rates have gone up ten fold since it was privately leased, so you can imagine how much the tolls will be in another 80 years when the lease ends.
Don't worry about the 407 tolls - the 407 corporation will be bankrupt long before the end of the lease. The McGuinty / Wynn hydro rates will destroy all manufacturing jobs in Ontario and bankrupt all the citizens so nobody can afford to buy cars to drive on the damn highway. Even the arrogant, greedy civil servants will eventually get screwed big time by the Liberal's green energy act.
 

explorerzip

Well-known member
Jul 27, 2006
8,120
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Don't worry about the 407 tolls - the 407 corporation will be bankrupt long before the end of the lease. The McGuinty / Wynn hydro rates will destroy all manufacturing jobs in Ontario and bankrupt all the citizens so nobody can afford to buy cars to drive on the damn highway. Even the arrogant, greedy civil servants will eventually get screwed big time by the Liberal's green energy act.
Yup, and we'll also won't be able to take transit since we'll still be trying to build the Eglinton subway that Harris cancelled 25 years ago.
 

GPIDEAL

Prolific User
Jun 27, 2010
23,358
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Yup, and we'll also won't be able to take transit since we'll still be trying to build the Eglinton subway that Harris cancelled 25 years ago.
The Liberals under Chretien cut transfer payments to the provinces. Blame them, not Harris.
 

GPIDEAL

Prolific User
Jun 27, 2010
23,358
12
38
Harris did not tell the Northern Torontonians that they are going to be screwed for 99 years with his 407 etr legacy. Already the rates have gone up ten fold since it was privately leased, so you can imagine how much the tolls will be in another 80 years when the lease ends.
The 407 is based on user-fees by anyone that travels on it. It's not limited to Northern Torontonians, nor does it charge them or any one unless they use it.

It's not only northern Torontonians who take the 407. Apparently there's a demand to take the 407 despite rising toll rates. Can you imagine the traffic and gridlock as an alternative? Are the toll rates significantly cheaper on the government-owned segment of the 407? Does our generous government give taxpayer's a price break in the sale of beer, wine and spirits by its LCBO?

Not that I love the cost of taking the 407, but can you cite a source to support that the tolls have increased 1000% since inception?

Regardless of the rising toll rates, it is based on user fees, and the privately-owned 407 pays for its own expansions, upgrades, maintenance, administration and police enforcement costs, without looking to taxpayers to foot the bill.
 
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