For Immediate Release:
October 1, 2010
Queens Park –MPP Toby Barrett is asking Dalton McGuinty for help to deal with the ongoing impact and unanswered questions from the four-and-a-half year old land dispute in Caledonia.
“On behalf of people in Haldimand–Norfolk and Caledonia and, if I may, Brantford as well, I rise today to ask Premier McGuinty for help. It has come to this. It has been four and a half years. We need help,” Barrett implored during the latest Caledonia debate at Queens Park.
The request occurred during debate of Attorney General Critic Ted Chudleigh’s private member bill calling for an inquiry into the provincial role in the ongoing dispute on the Douglas Creek Estates property in Caledonia.
The PC Opposition request was defeated 22-5 by the McGuinty Government, with the NDP abstaining.
Chudleigh’s bill follows in the footsteps of Barrett’s previous private members bill titled, “Truth about Caledonia Act, 2009” – a bill that was defeated by the government majority after the Premier announced he would stop such an inquiry before the March 12, 2009 debate even had a chance to begin.
“Caledonia has raised serious questions about government’s adherence to the rule of law. In a free and democratic society we have one law for all. As we in opposition have said many times – no one is beneath the law, no one is above the law and no one is beyond the law,” Barrett noted. “For these and other reasons, we in Ontario’s opposition have – three times now – called for a public inquiry. We did it first in June 2006 after the OPP raid and secondly, through my private member’s bill.”
Clearly, Mr. McGuinty will permit no public inquiry into Caledonia. However, as many will know Christie Blatchford’s book, will be released October 26th.
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For more information, please contact MPP Toby Barrett at
(519) 428-0446 or (905)-765-8413, 1-800-903-8629