Wynne distances herself from McGuinty in wake of new allegations

Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne struggled to distanceherself Thursday from her predecessor Dalton McGuinty, amidexplosive police allegations that his chief of staff may havecommitted a breach of trust in the ongoing gas plants scandal.

Provincial police allege in unsealed court documents that theybelieve David Livingston gave an outside tech expert the boyfriendof a senior staffer access to 24 computers in the premier'soffice.

According to the documents, Livingston sought high-level accessto the computers to "wipe clean the hard drives" after McGuinty resigned amid controversy over the costly cancellation of two gas plants.

It's alleged that during the transition period to Wynne's administration, Livingston arranged for his executive assistant
Wendy Wai to have special access to desktops in the premier'soffice, even though she had little knowledge of computers.

Police believe Peter Faist, who wasn't a government employee, wasthe person who actually accessed the 24 computers using Wai's administrative privileges, including Miller's, Livingston's andother staffers.

Faist, who police believe is the partner of former deputy chiefof staff Laura Miller, was never officially hired by the governmentand did not undergo the required security screening, the documentssay.

According to two staffers in the premier's office, Faist accessedtheir computers a few days before Wynne was sworn in, saying he wasgetting them ready for the next government, police say.

The staffers said they couldn't log into their computers afterFaist left and called IT staff, who said it was clear that systemfiles had been deleted, police allege.

'Not the way a government should operate'

In February, Ontario Provincial Police seized hard drives fromgovernment computers at ReCall, a data storage facility in
Mississauga, Ont.

It's part of their investigation into the unlawful deletion ofgovernment emails concerning unpopular gas plants in Oakville andMississauga that were cancelled by the Liberals ahead of the 2011election.

None of the allegations have been proven in court.

Livingston's lawyer, Brian Gover, said his client "did nothingwrong and certainly did not break the law as alleged."

"He was consistently open about his actions in the Premier'sOffice and he always believed that those actions were proper and inaccordance with normal practices," Gover wrote in an email.

"We are confident that a full review will show that theallegations are baseless."

In the court documents, Gover said Livingston was trying todelete "purely personal" records before the change in governmentand no public records were affected.

But if the latest allegations are true, they are "verydisturbing," a grim-faced Wynne said Thursday.

"This is not the way a government should operate, this is notthe way a premier's office should conduct itself and it is not theway my office operates," she said.

"I want to be clear: this individual does not work in my office, nor in my government, nor has he ever worked in my government."

Police say Wai's special administrator's rights were valid fromFeb. 4 to March 20 last year. Wynne was sworn in on Feb. 11.

But she said members of McGuinty's staff had no access to thepremier's office once she took over.

"After that date, no one came into my office to take any actionto do with destroying information, nor did I direct anyone to dothat, nor did I have any knowledge of anyone doing that," Wynne said.

The Progressive Conservatives said it's clear that the Liberalsdon't have the moral authority to govern.

"We now know that the coverup and criminal destruction ofdocuments and emails took place in Kathleen Wynne's office under herwatch as premier," said Opposition Leader Tim Hudak, adding thatshe "possibly ordered the destruction of documents."

Hudak's accusations that she participated in a crime and a coverup are "irresponsible ... disgraceful and they're an insult tohis office," Wynne fired back.

Opposition finds it "unbelievable" Wynne didn't know

But the allegations are still a big blow to the rookie premier, who may be facing an election if her minority government can't passits spring budget.

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said she finds it "unbelievable" that Wynne didn't know about what was going on in the premier's office.

But she wouldn't rule out propping up the Liberals by supportingtheir budget, as her party has done for the past two years.

Wynne expressed optimism that her government could still get workdone, despite the latest allegations.

"I came into this office knowing that there were issues that Iwould have to deal with," she said.

"I've been dealing with those issues and at the same time, Ihave been working to make decisions and put policies in place thatare in the best interests of the people of this province."

But when voters go to the polls, they may find it hard todistinguish Wynne's government from her predecessor's. And theLiberals are betting that their record over the last decade willencourage voters to stick with the status quo.

In the meantime, the premier said she'll keep refuting"unfounded" personal attacks by the Opposition and ensure that
people understand who the police allegations are actually targeting.

Emails deleted

The police launched their investigation last June after theTories complained that gas plant emails were intentionally deletedby McGuinty's senior staff.

Privacy Commissioner Ann Cavoukian had ruled that top Liberals inMcGuinty's office broke the law when they deleted the emails.

The opposition parties said the emails were wiped out to cover upthe true cost of killing the gas plants, which the auditor generalestimates could climb to $1.1 billion far more than the $230million the government claimed.

McGuinty has said that he never condoned or directed the deletionof emails or documents which should have been preserved under law.

It was the government's initial refusal to release gas plantdocuments that led to a rare and often nasty contempt of parliamentdebate, which prompted McGuinty to prorogue the legislature in thefall of 2012 and resign as premier.

The Liberals eventually turned over hundreds of thousands ofdocuments and emails related to the gas plants in several batches,insisting after each one that all the relevant correspondence hadbeen released.