Commons committee to probe Baird's role in Ottawa civic election

A House of Commons committee is looking into whether former Treasury Board president John Baird interferedin Ottawa's 2006 municipal election.

The committee on government operations voted Tuesday to examinethe circumstancessurroundingBaird'sdecision to withhold $200 million in federal funding for the city's north-south light rail project until after theelection.

At the time, Baird, nowminister of the environment, was headof the department that oversees the financial management of other government departments and agencies.He is also the Conservative MP for Ottawa West-Nepean.

Liberal public works critic Mark Holland, one of 12 MPs on the committee, saidhe is concerned that during the campaign, Baird apparently leaked information about a confidential contract between the City of Ottawa and Siemens-PCL/Dufferin, the group of companies that was to design, build and maintain the city's $778-million rail line.

"And it looks like he misrepresented the contents of that contract, and that may have had an impact on the municipal election," said Holland, MP for the Ontarioriding ofAjax-Pickering. "In fact, it may have had a large impact."

Leading up to the election, outgoing mayor Bob Chiarelli backed the light-rail plan, while his rivals, Larry O'Brien and Alex Munter, both opposed the project and said they would conduct a complete review of it if elected.

O'Brien won the election in November 2006, becoming head of a new city councilthatcancelled the contract a month later.

At the time of the election, 10 similar projects were ongoing, but only Ottawa's light-rail plan was treated that way, Holland said.

"Why was this one project so different than the other 10?" Holland asked. "That's what we want to get to. Was there interference here? Was there an attempt to use his position to try and influence the outcome of the municipal election?"

'Billion-dollar boondoggle'

On Wednesday, Baird said he made the right decision when he acted as he did.

"If you want to avert a billion-dollar boondoggle, you have to make some difficult decisions," he told reporters after the day's Conservative caucus meeting.

He dismissed the investigation, adding that the federalethics commissioner earlier declined to probe the incident because "there's no evidence of anything."

"I think Mr. Holland has too much time on his hands," Baird said. "He doesn't have the guts or the courage to make any of the outrageous allegations he makes inside of the House because he has no facts to back them up." (Statements made by MPs in the House of Commons are protected against defamation lawsuits).

Review requested

The 30-kilometre electric light-rail line was to run from Barrhaven Centre north to Lebreton Flats, then head east through downtown to the University of Ottawa.

City council voted in favour of the contract with Siemens-PCL/Dufferin in July 2006.

However, in September, O'Brien wrote a letter to Baird asking him to review the federal government's contribution to the project.

Baird agreed, then announced in October that he would withhold the federal government's $200-million share until after the election so the new council could re-approve the light-rail contract.

In December 2006, the new council voted to kill the rail line.

The city now faces lawsuits from the companies contracted to design, build and maintain the line.