OPP charge two former McGuinty aides in connection with gas plants scandal

The OPP have laid criminal charges against two former staffers who worked with the McGuinty Liberals.

David Livingston, 63, and Laura Miller, 36, each face one count of breach of ‎trust, one count of mischief in relation to data and one count of misuse of a computer system to commit mischief, the Ontario Provincial Police announced Thursday.

A report from auditor general Bonnie Lysyk later found the cancellations of the plants and moving them to Sarnia and Napanee could cost up to $1.1 billion over 20 years.

Both Mr. Livingston and Ms. Miller have previously maintained they did nothing wrong.

Livingston had been under investigation for breach of trust for allegedly giving a special computer password to a non-government employee, enabling the man – Peter Faist, Miller’s common-law spouse – to clear computers in the premier’s office as the McGuinty era drew to a close.

The accused are scheduled to make a first appearance at the Ontario Court of Justice in Toronto on January 27, 2016.

The OPP served search warrants at provincial government offices in Toronto during the investigation, seeking the electronic mailbox and its backup tapes for Miller and Livingston, between May 1, 2012 and February 11, 2013 – the day Kathleen Wynne was officially sworn in as premier.

Wynne says the circumstances around the police investigation into the destruction of tens of thousands of emails on two cancelled gas plants concern events that took place before she became premier.

The OPP said the force will not comment further on the evidence “in order to protect the integrity of the investigation and the ensuing court process”.

McGuinty, who was never under investigation, co-operated with police throughout their probe.

The minority government of Dalton McGuinty was forced into committee hearings dominated by the opposition parties determined to find out when Liberals knew that true cost of the cancellations and if they were motivated more by a desire to re-elect their own candidates than a waning need for electricity in the area.