(Earlier this month, the city council approved a motion directing Oshawa Mayor John Henry to lodge a similar request with the commissioner, but under the current law, only MPs can do so.)
In her letter, Chow asks Dawson to investigate whether any of the directors benefited from "preferential treatment" by Transport Minister Denis Lebel, who is responsible for appointing new members, "based on their relationship with [Flaherty] and their donations to the Conservative Party."
The current chair, Gary Valcour, is the immediate past president of Flaherty's local riding association of Whitby-Oshawa, while another director, Chris Kluczewski, was a member of the executive, and two other directors, Peter Singh and Norm Mackie, have given money to either the party or local Conservative candidates in past years.
Chow's letter also raises the possibility that similarly special consideration may have been given to the company behind the ethanol plant.
Former FarmTech Energy Corp. director Timothy O'Connor, yet another former member of the Whitby-Oshawa riding association, also served as campaign manager to Ontario PC MPP Christine Elliott -- who is, of course, married to Flaherty -- during the most recent provincial election, and although he's no longer a director in FarmTech, his brother, Dan O'Connor, remains president and CEO.
Chow also points out that she has made "repeated attempts" to bring the matter to the transport committee, but has been "thwarted by the Conservative majority," thus rendering her unable to "properly vet the appointees."
In response to today's submission, Flaherty spokesperson Chisholm Pothier provided the following statement:
The federal government makes one appointment to the board of the Oshawa Port Authority. The other appointees come from the city and the province, one each, and the port users, four.
From a list submitted by the users, the federal Transport minister picks the four appointees.
The federal appointment is appointed by the federal cabinet, upon the recommendation of the Transport minister.
In any community there will be overlapping relationships between local representatives of government, business and the community. Those relationships do not prevent qualified people from being appointed to government roles.
All the people appointed to the Oshawa Port Authority are well qualified.
It remains to be seen whether Dawson will pursue any further investigation into the file.
In the meantime, here's the full text of Chow's request:
Original Article
Source: CBC
Author: Kady O'Malley
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